


We are still brothers after all

by SilverMoonlightInBrightNight



Category: Dororo (Anime 2019)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Amputation, And only Hyakkimaru knows it, Blood and Gore, Blood and Injury, Bullying, But The Others Are Helping Him, Disabled Character, Dororo is a Good Sibling, Dororo is a girl, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Found Family, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Hyakkimaru (Dororo) is a Good Sibling, Hyakkimaru Learns How to Live as A Human, Hyakkimaru get's beaten up, Injury Recovery, Jukai (Dororo) lives, Jukai is a good parent, Loss of Limbs, Major Character Injury, Nui no Kata is a Good Parent, Nui no Kata lives, POV First Person, POV Hyakkimaru, Panic Attacks, Semiverbal Character, Sibling Bonding, Someone has to teach him what's appropriate and what is not, Tahomaru (Dororo) is a Good Sibling, Tahomaru (Dororo) lives, Tahomaru gets injured, Tahomaru is traumatized, at first, but he will be alright, making new friends
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-13
Updated: 2020-07-05
Packaged: 2021-03-03 19:21:14
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 25,456
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24700735
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SilverMoonlightInBrightNight/pseuds/SilverMoonlightInBrightNight
Summary: Jukai, Nui and Tahomaru leave the burning castle together with Hyakkimaru and Dororo. However Tahomaru gets severely injured on their way out. The group decides to stay at a house in near forest until Tahomaru is strong enough to travel. After a week they decide to move to Jukai's and Hyakkimaru's old home. They are slowly growing together and becoming a new family. But not everything is perfect: Tahomaru struggles to cope with his injury, Dororo has problems getting used to having a new family and a home, Hyakkimaru struggles with learning important things about being and living as human and Jukai and Nui have their own problems...But fortunately, they can rely on each other and life isn't always bad either. Hyakkimaru experiences the wonders of the world, Dororo loves her new found parents and siblings and Tahomaru has finally a family that really cares for him.However, fate is still not done with them, yet...
Relationships: Dororo & Hyakkimaru & Tahomaru (Dororo), Dororo & Jukai (Dororo), Dororo & Nui no Kata (Dororo), Dororo & OCs, Hyakkimaru & Jukai (Dororo), Hyakkimaru & Nui no Kata (Dororo), Hyakkimaru & OCs, Jukai & OCs, Jukai & Tahomaru (Dororo), Jukai/Nui No Kata (Dororo), Nui no Kata & OCs, Nui no Kata & Tahomaru (Dororo), Tahomaru & OCs
Comments: 6
Kudos: 22





	1. I won't let you die

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hyakkimaru, Dororo, Jukai, Nui and Tahomaru escape the burning castle. But a heavy wooden beam falls on Tahomaru and shatters on of his lower legs. The groups moves into a abandoned house where Jukai examines the injury. He has good and bad news. The good one? Tahomaru will survive. The bad one? He will lose his leg...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, I'm very nervous while writing this.  
> This is my first fic and English is not my native language (that is german), so please don't be too harsh on me.  
> It's also the first time ever that I publish something I wrote in the internet, so I'm extremely nervous, right now.
> 
> I'm very new on this plattform, so I have yet no beta-readers. Just tell me if you find any grammar or spelling mistakes.
> 
> Another thing, this the first time that I use paragraghs like this. This is not my (favorite) style, but it's easier to read for others and clearly structered. Usually, I only use paragraphs for time skips and stuff like that. So, if you should notice that I placed the paragraphs wrong, it's because I'm not used to use so many paragraphs. 
> 
> This fic is mostly written in the first person perspective and in present tense, however third person passages will be in past tense. This is a part of my writing style, I don't want to change. Third person passages are mostly used for flashbacks and to show the perspective of other characters than the first person narrator. I chose to tell the story from Hyakkimaru's POV. He's my favorite character and the most interesting one in my opinion.
> 
> Next point, Dororo is a girl in this fic. I know there are different opinions on Dororo's gender on this plattform. Some say that Dororo's a girl, other's say that Dororo's a trans boy. I think that Dororo is a girl, at least in the 2019 Anime and the new Manga. It's more complicated in the old Manga and Anime. But although you can't convice me of the opposite, I will respect your opinion, just don't be toxic.  
> However, Dororo's gender isn't really important, not in the 2019 Anime and not in this fic either.

**I won’t let you die **

It’s so hot. I can almost feel the flames, the burning castle around me. My eyes are still closed. I don’t dare to open them yet. But my soul vision is still there. I’m turning my head.

My brother is still there, lying on the ground. Mama and mama are expecting me to go to Dororo and escape from the castle together with the kid while they would stay here with Tahomaru and die. I do not agree with their plan.

“Come with me!”, I say. “No.” “You come with me! Tahomaru, too! I don’t want you die!”, I reply, “You are family!”

It’s a few weeks since the last time, I said such a long sentence. Mama and Mama hesitate.

“You are! Need you!”, I scream, “Please! Don’t want lose you.” That hit something. Their life energy is coming back.

“May you carry Tahomaru? He looks like he’s too weak to walk”, says my she-mama. “I will”, responds my foster mama.

Somethings falls down the ceiling and blocks the entrance of our escape route, a secret passage. I pull my swords out of the crystal demon god and use them to destroy the blockade. He-mama is now carrying Tahomaru. She-mama takes my hand and leads me into the dark tunnel. He-mama follows with Tahomaru.

“Aniki? Is that you?” I will always recognize Dororo’s high-pitched voice. “Dororo?” “Yeah! It’s you! Oh! You’re not alone. Those are your mama and brother, right? But who’s that man?” “Another mama”, I say, “Let’s go.”

But then I hear a loud ‘ _Bang!’_ sound. I turn around. He-mama lays on the ground, Tahomaru right next to him. But green beams are laying on Tahomaru’s legs and on he-mama’s back.

They are still in the entrance. I run towards them and kick the still hot (and probably burning) wooden beams aside. He-mama stands up and picks up Tahomaru, shouldering him. He-mama looks up. "Let's get out of this!"

We are stumbling through the tunnel. And finally, I dare to open my eyes. Now, it’s even darker than before. But wait… there’s a light! I go faster, Dororo follows me, she’s excited. Something is on the ground; a long thing is tied to it. The long thing must be a rope. And the thing on the ground… is it a bucket?

Dororo coughs. I pick her up, grab the rope with my free hand, climb onto the thing on the ground (must be a bucket) and pull at the rope.

“Up, up!”, I call. “Hyakkimaru? Is that you? And Dororo is with you?” The voice of the old man.

Then the rope is pulled, probably by the old man, and we are slowly pulled up. I lift my head. There is so much light. I have to blink a few times, before my new eyes can adapt to it. There is so much dark blue, but also a bit red and I can see fluffy grey things. Clouds? Is that… the sky?

I remember the time, when Dororo told me how beautiful the trees look in the fall. She said, it’s a calming red, that makes you wonder. She called it beautiful. Now I know that she meant. _Beautiful_. That’s the only word I know that can describe the sky right now.

“Sky, beautiful”, I say in awe, then I look at Dororo’s face. It’s round with big round eyes, a tiny nose and a small (but very loud) mouth. I smile, “Dororo, beautiful.”

I don’t know a more fitting word. Beautiful is not right in this case, but I still lack so many words. Dororo reacts by pressing her hands on my eyes and mouth.

“What are saying, stupid _Aniki_!”, she yells. Have I said something wrong? Dororo starts to wriggle in my arm. How am I supposed to hold her when she is wriggling like that?

“What are you doing down where! I can’t hold you if you are moving this much!”, yells the old man. At the same moment, Dororo must have realized something.

“Wait, Aniki! You can see? You can see my face?”, she asks. Well, yes, but not when you are pressing a hand on my eyes. Oh, and I can’t answer you as long as your other hand is on my mouth!

I’m relieved when the bucket reaches the surface of… is that a well? I’ve never seen one until now. I climb on the well and then jump onto the ground, where I let go of Dororo.

“Put down, again. Mama still there!”, I say to the old man. “Alright, alright…” “I help.”

The bucket is falling down again. Someone pulls at the rope and now both of us pull at the rope to pull up the bucket. It’s pretty heavy, but I’m very strong. And soon enough two shadows appear. Tahomaru and he-mama, I guess. They leave the bucket.

The bucket falls down one last time, we pull it up again. She-mama is in it. She’s coughing pretty hard.

I sit down and close my eyes; my vision goes back to soul sight. I’m exhausted. And tired. I haven’t slept for one or two days, instead I fought with my brother and his friends.

Then I notice that Tahomaru is groaning in pain. I open my eyes again and walk towards him. His cheeks and cloths are sooty. He smells like smoke. Then I notice that the dark grey garment on his legs is soaked in a red liquid. It’s a dark red, the same color as the soul of a demon god. Dororo called it blood red. Wait blood red?

“Tahomaru, hurt!”, I call.

Tahomaru is pressing his hands on the area. His hands are full of this red liquid, too. And it’s also in his face, but not that much. He-mama comes to us. He has a thick beard with a color between grey and brown. His skin is light brown. Everyone else here has fairer skin. Interesting, I didn’t even know that skin has a color, or hair…

He-mama knees down beside Tahomaru. “Let me see your wound. I’m a doctor, you know?” Tahomaru lifts his hands. He-mama pulls up the garment on his left leg and reveals lots of blood spilling out of a gash in Tahomaru’s shin. And something has pierced through the skin.

“That’s not good. Looks like an open fracture”, says he-mama, “Can you feel that?” He pinches Tahomaru’s ankle.

“What am I supposed to feel?”, askes Tahomaru, I can sense his worry… and his fear.

“What about this?” He-mama pinches my brother’s ankle awfully hard, but there’s no reaction. “When do you want to start?” “That’s a bad sign”, says he-mama, then he removes the sandal and a white piece of cloth which covers the foot.

He examines the foot. “No pulse. Not good”, comments he-mama, the turns to my brother, “I’ll try to set your bones. This will hurt.”

“Just do it. It already hurts like hell”, replies Tahomaru.

He-mama grabs the leg below and above the injury and then pulls. The end of the broken bone disappears into his leg and blood is gushing out of the wound. Tahomaru cries out in pain.

Tehn he-mama repeats both, the pinching and the examination of the foot.

“Nothing has changed. Hyakkimaru, kid, I want you to get some branches. It’s urgent!”, he says. “Dororo, let’s go”, I call.

Dororo comes and grabs my left arm. Her hand is so small, but it’s warm, too, and soft. It’s so nice to finally feels her little fingers and palms. I could cry from happiness, but it doesn’t feel right under these circumstances.

I close my eyes and follow the white light of her soul into a nearby thicket. We gather some branches and then hurry up on our way back. I open my eyes again when we arrive at the well, because I can see more things with open eyes.

The first thing I notice is that Tahomaru’s leg is now bandaged. Dororo and I hand over our branches to he-mama, who ties them around Tahomaru’s lower leg.

“That’s only a stopgap. I can’t treat him here and now. The injury isn’t life-threatening yet, so I can hopefully find a better place to treat him”, explains he-mama.

“Can you fix him?”, I ask. “A human is not a thing. But no, fixing ripped blood vessels and nerves is not possible with the methods I know. And I know quite a lot. But he will live, I promise you”, he answers, “We should leave this place now.”

“You should go south. There’s a small forest. You’ll find an abandoned house there. The roof and the walls are still stable and have no holes”, says the old man. “That’s good to know”, replies she-mama, “Let’s go.”

I turn around and look at her. She has very long, raven black hair, thin eyebrows and a slender, pale face.

He-mama carries Tahomaru on his back. Then we set off and I close my eyes to prevent any overstimulation.

I have no idea, how long we are walking when we finally find the abandoned house. It’s bigger than I had expected, but not really big. But it has more than one room and that is quite luxury.

I finally dare to open my eyes again. Tahomaru is placed on the floor. His bandages are soaked in blood and he’s in a bad shape. He-mama examines the leg again, but the results are the same.

“Boy, I have some bad news for you”, says he-mama to Tahomaru. “Am I going to die?”, askes my brother, “I don’t want to die! Please! I want to live! Do what you have to do but save me!”

Tahomaru is panicking. “Calm down, boy. That’s not want I wanted to say. Well, the thing is, I can save your life, but not that leg, do you understand me?”, answers he-mama, “I’ll have to amputate. You will lose that leg.”

Tahomaru goes pale. “No, no, no”, is all he manages to utter, “That can’t be true!”

“Not fair!”, I call. “Life isn't fair, Hyakkimaru. But see, I made you a whole body. I’ll be able to make your brother a new foot when the wound is healed. If he wants me to. I know, there’s no feeling in them, but they are as supple as real ones.”

“I guess, that’s the punishment for stealing your arms and eyes”, utters Tahomaru, still shocked, “But hey, at least I won’t die. So, we can get to know each other…” He smiles as he says the last sentence. It's a fake smile. I can feel that he is trying to cheer me up, despite being frightened himself.

Then I nod. I want the same, but I don’t know how to say that. He is my brother and I want to get to know him.

“Can I get your attention, please!”, yells he-mama. Both of us, Tahomaru and I, look at him.

“I don’t have any painkilling or anesthetic herbs, so you’ll be awake, and it will hurt a lot, maybe so much that you’ll faint, boy”, explains he-mama, “Now for the others. Kid, you’ll make a fire and then go and get some high-proof alcohol. Nui, please get some water. I’ll need it to boil some bandages. Hyakkimaru, you’ll stay here and comfort your brother. Hug him, say nice things. Now go.”

She-mama grabs an empty jug and leaves the house, Dororo knees next to the fireside and starts to fiddle around with some wood. I sit down next to my brother.

“I, sorry.”

There’s so much more I want to say but can’t. “It’s not your fault. I’ll recover and we’ll be able to get to know each other, isn’t that great?”

I can still hear insecurity and fear in his voice. Why does he think that I’m the one who needs comfort? He is about to lose a leg. I am healthy. For the first time of my life actually…

“Hyakkimaru, can you tie this over your brother’s eye? He shouldn’t watch this operation. It will be a gruesome sight.”

He-mama hands over a piece of cloth to me. I try my best to tie it over Tahomaru’s eye, but my new hands are still a bit clumsy.

“It’s okay brother, you’ve blindfolded me”, says Tahomaru.

Curious, I touch the scar, which crosses his right eye. The one, he’s missing. One of my eyes was there for some time. But when did he lose his own?

“What happen to eye?”, I ask. “You don’t know? You cut it when we fought at the Banmon wall”, he answers.

“I, sorry. Haven’t intended that”, I reply.

“I accept your apology. I was the dumbass. I was the one who started that crap. Or was it our father?”, says Tahomaru, “It doesn’t matter now. Just stay with me during _this_ , okay? I know, I was a jerk. I called you demon god and I’m sorry for that. You’re way too caring to be one of them.”

I nod at his request. Then I look at he-mama. He is rummaging through the large bag he had carried with him. He pulls out a smaller bag and opens it. There are lots of _things_ in it.

“What’s that?”, I ask. “Surgical tools”, answers he-mama, then picks one of them, “This one is a scalpel. It’s very sharp knife.”

“Hey, uncle! I’ve found some alcohol in the pantry”, shouts Dororo. “That’s good. Hand it over”, says he-mama, “I’ll start now. You should go outside or in a different room, kid. Such a surgery is nothing for child’s eyes.”

“But I want to stay with Aniki!”, shouts Dororo, “And I’ve already seen really bad stuff.” “Then stay, but if you throw up, you will leave this room!”, replies he-mama.

I am still with Tahomaru. He-mama removes the garment which covers Tahomaru’s legs, then he ties a rope around Tahomaru’s left thigh before he removes the bandages and the branches.

Tahomaru is paralyzed with fear. I turn around and pull him into a hug.

His fingers are digging into my shoulders as he presses his face against my chest. He’s sobbing, but suddenly he flinches and whimpers in pain. I’m stroking his back.

“I’ll try to make this as short as possible”, tells he-mama.

I tighten the hug. “I here, Tahomaru. Don’t let go, you”, I say. “Thank you, Aniue”, whispers Tahomaru, then he stiffens and holds his breath, his fingers are digging into my shoulders.

It almost hurts, but I guess Tahomaru is in a lot more pain than me right now.

I remember how much it had hurt back when the antlion demon god had bitten off my lower leg. It was so bad, that I fainted twice. The first time was just seconds after the incident, the second time was when we finally had arrived at the place where Mio had lived.

“It hurts”, whispers Tahomaru. “I know. Demon god eat foot, once. Much, much pain. Get it back, later”, I reply.

“I really don’t wish to change places with you, Aniue”, murmurs Tahomaru against my chest, then he flinches again, gasping for air. He groans in pain and clings to my shoulders. I can almost feel his pain and desperation.

He wants to stop the pain, but he knows it’s necessary.

I hold him as tight as I can without suffocating him and press my own face against his neck. He smells like smoke, but there are still traces of his own body odor. I smell sweat, horse droppings, straw and a hint of a flower I can’t name.

The door opens in the same moment. She-mama enters the house. “Tahomaru? How are you?”, she asks.

Tahomaru’s answer is a scream of pain and a growl.

“He is in no shape to answer”, says he-mama. “Is there no way I could help him?”, asks she-mama. “You could put the water on the fireplace and then add some bandages when it starts to boil”, explains he-mama, “This will reduce the risk of infection.”

She-mama turns around and pours the water from the jug into a pot and then puts the pot onto the fireside.

I continue stroking Tahomaru’s back and saying “I, here”.

Tahomaru stiffens again and gasps in pain, then there’s the smell of burning flesh. “I’ll continue. The pain will probably get worse”, says he-mama.

“Can’t you speed things up? There is no need for torturing him…”, begs she-mama.

“You’re right. I don’t want to torture him”, says he-mama, then he turns to me.

“Hyakkimaru, can you give me one of your twin swords? They should be sharp enough to cut through bones as easy as through warm butter…”

I let go of Tahomaru, stand up and walk to he-mama, then I grab on of the twin swords and hand it over to him.

“This will hurt a lot, but it’s faster than sawing through the bones and cutting through the muscles with a knife. When your leg is severed, I will stitch the wound, that will hurt, too, but then it’s over”, says he-mama to my brother.

“Just end it”, whimpers Tahomaru.

I open my eyes and grab one of Tahomaru’s hands. Then I notice that Dororo is holding his other hand. I smile at her, it's a forced smile, but she returns it. I gaze at Tahomaru’s left leg.

I can see deep gashes in his muscles around the lower leg and a small area below gashes looks like it was skinned. Blood is slowly building a pool underneath the wound.

I hold Tahomaru’s hand tight, spending him comfort. It’s a good thing, he can’t see this.

Then he-mama places the sword above a long cut on Tahomaru’s shinbone and in the next moment he grabs he grabs a piece of wood and slams it onto the dull side of the blade.

The blade cuts through everything in its way, effectively severing the damaged part of the leg. Tahomaru cries out in agony. I whimper in sympathy and tighten the grip around his hand.

Blood is spilling onto the floor.

He-mama pushes the severed limp aside, it looks horrifying and the stump doesn’t look any better.

The bones and the muscles are visible, and the cut is red from blood, more blood is gushing out of the wound.

“It’s almost over. I will now suture the wound and bandage it. I can hear that the bandages are boiling already”, says he-mama, “Nui, would you please get the bandages out of the water?”

She-mama takes a wooden spoon and goes back to the boiling pot.

I turn my head back to my brother, who is crying.

Tahomaru sits up, then grabs me and pulls me into a tight hug. “I, here. I, here”, I say to him, “I, stay. For you.”

Tahomaru tightens his grip again and whimpers. I just stroke his back and continue saying “I, here”.

“Nui, would you please take this and bury it outside”, says he-mama.

I turn my head to he-mama and she-mama. He-mama has covered the severed leg with big and white piece of cloth. She-mama picks it up and then goes outside.

He-mama opens the small bag again and pulls out a spool of thread and a very thin thing.

I decide to close my eyes again and concentrate on comforting Tahomaru. His grip is tightening, and he whimpers in pain.

Then, finally, he is relaxing a bit. He is still in a lot of pain, but I guess he-mama isn’t doing something to his leg anymore.

“Boy, it’s over. You can remove the blindfold if you want to.”

Tahomaru lifts his head and lets go of me. I let go of him, too, and just sit down next to him.

My brother has a horrified look on his face and just stares at the now bandaged stump. The bandages are still white, but I guess that will change over time.

“Tahomaru, you okay?”, I ask.

“Huh? What did you say?” “You okay?”

“No, no. I’m not okay. My leg, it`s gone. It hurts. Horribly. And it hurts in my soul, too, you know?” “Understand.” “You do?”

“Told you. Demon god eat foot once”, I explain.

“But you got it back. I won’t get my foot back. It’s gone forever…” Tahomaru sobs.

“Don’t worry! I’m sure it will heal just fine and then it won’t hurt anymore!”, says Dororo, she sounds as optimistic as ever.

“But it’s gone!”, cries Tahomaru. “Tahomaru, I here. Remember?”, I ask. “Yes, I do, Aniue. Thank you”, says my brother and leans against my side.

I yawn. “Are you tired?”, asks Tahomaru. “Yes, Hungry, too.”

He-mama stands up and looks at us, then he starts to talk, “My work is done for today. Nui, would you help me? We need some food. It’s good, that we have autumn right now. There are lots of ripe berries and fruits we can gather. And maybe I can catch some fish, too.” She-mama nods at the question and follows him outside.

“What now?”, asks Tahomaru.

“Sleep?”, I suggest. “I don’t know if I can sleep with that leg.” “Try?” “You’re right. I can try.” Tahomaru lays down, I lay down next to him.

“Maybe I should try to catch some sleep, too”, says Dororo, “Move aside, Aniki!”

I move closer to Tahomaru. Dororo nestles up to my side. “It’s good you have your eyes back, Aniki”, murmurs the little girl, “There’s so much I want to show you when you got used to them.” “Looking forward”, I say. “Yeah, I know, Aniki.”

I close my eyes and pull her close with one arm. She’s so warm and soft. I’m so happy, that I can finally feel her with my hands. It doesn’t take me long to fall asleep…

* * *

“Wake up! The food is ready to eat!”

I yawn and then stand up. I can see Dororo’s spirit, she-mama’s spirit, he-mama’s spirit and Tahomaru’s spirit. They sit in a circle. I sit down between Dororo and Tahomaru.

“Tahomaru? How are you?”, I ask.

“My leg is still hurting. But that isn’t surprising, is it? I guess it will hurt for a long time.”

“The pain should fade away in the next two or three weeks. But it will take between one and two months for your leg to heal completely”, explains he-mama. “I thought it will take longer…” “It’s sutured, not open. But there will be scars, kid”

“Maybe we should start to eat”, says she-mama. “Yeah! Food is good!”, replies Dororo happily. She-mama hands me a bowl. “Aniki, there’s a fish and some berries in your bowl”, tells me Dororo.

“Fish, good.” “Yeah, it is. Meat is always good, Aniki!”

I smile. Then I grab the chopsticks and start to eat my food.

The berries are sweet with a trace of sourness while the fish is juicy and tender. It would be nice if we had some rice, but I won’t complain.

After the meal, I have to relieve myself. I go outside and hide behind a huge tree.

But suddenly I’m afraid. It's the first time I need to pee after getting my arms and eyes back. And I'm not eager to find out how peeing is now that I have arms and eyes. But, it won't kill me right?

“Aniki, you look horrified! Did a monster attack you?” “No. I relieve me.”

“I guess, you wanted to say, ‘ _I was relieving myself_ ’ or ‘ _I relieved myself_ ’, right?”, asks Tahomaru, “Learn past tense.”

“What’s that?” “You have to change some words, when you are talking about the past”, explains my brother, “But I don’t get, why you are so horrified from relieving yourself? Have you peed blood? ”

I’m confused. “Um… no”, I say, “Don’t like tou-...”

“Ugh! Shut up, Aniki! It’s not appropriate to talk about things like that. I told you months ago!”, yells Dororo.

“I, sorry, Dororo…” “You better be! For heaven’s sake, I guess we’ll have a lot to work at in order to make a decent person out of you!”

“Huh?” “I guess that Dororo meant is that you must need to learn what’s appropriate and what not, how to behave around other people, how to talk with people and probably how to make friends of your age…”, explains he-mama.

“Friends? What’s that?” “We are family, more or less. Some of us are related, other’s kind of adopted. Dororo and you are more or less adopted siblings. And you are my adopted son, which makes me your adopted papa or mama as you call me”, says he-mama, “Friends do not belong to your family. They are people you really like, although not romantic. Friends have fun together; they talk to each other and help each other. And children also play games with their friends.”

“Games?”

“That’s what I was talking about, Aniki! You have no idea how normal people are like, what they do, what they like, how they live!”, shouts Dororo, “You don’t even know what a game is!”

“But…”

This time it’s he-mama who interrupts me.

“You have to learn a lot if you ever want to live an even partly normal life. But at least we have time enough. You’ll never be normal; you’ll always be different from other people. And there is no way for you to become completely normal. But there are things you need to learn if you want to live in this world”, he says.

I sit down, now I’m pouting.

“Today was very eventful. We need to rest. All of us. We should sleep”, says she-mama, “Jukai-san? Have you found any futons or tatami mats?”

“No, we’ll have to sleep on the bare floor”, replies he-mama, “We shouldn’t stay here forever. I suggest that we should move to that old house of mine when the young lord has regained his strength.” His gaze wanders to my brother who bows his head and makes a sad face.

I can feel his embarrassment, his sadness and his pain. His leg must hurt a lot. The bandages are still white.

“Would you mind if I make a suggestion? I think we should introduce ourselves to the others”, says she-mama, “I’ll start. My name is Nui no kata. I am or was the wife of Daigo Kagemitsu, Lord of Daigo and Ishikawa. I am the mother of two sons, the elder one is Hyakkimaru, the younger one is Tahomaru.”

“Well, well… I’m Jukai, I’m a prosthetic carver and doctor. I found Hyakkimaru as a baby and raised him. But in the past I worked for Lord Shiba as a torturer, I’m ashamed of my past and I would do anything to undo my atrocities although I know that it is impossible and that I will never be able to atone for my sins…”, replies he-mama, “Feel free to hate me. I deserve it.”

I’m confused. I don’t know what I should feel. I… I would never be able to hate he-mama. He gave me a name, a home and a body. It doesn’t matter what happened before.

Dororo looks shocked, but she manages it to pull herself together.

“Um… So… My name is Dororo. My parents were bandits who only fought with samurai. Aniki saved me from a demon god and so I decided to follow him!”

“And my name is Daigo Tahomaru, son and heir of Daigo Kagemitsu, future lord of Daigo. Although I guess that these titles actually belong to my brother…”, says Tahomaru.

It’s my turn now, isn’t it? Shit! I don’t know what to say. I guess, I should just try. They are already staring at me…

“Um… I am Hyakkimaru.” They are still staring.

“Oi! Stop staring at Aniki. He doesn’t like speaking very much”, shouts Dororo.

That is only a part of the truth. I’m used to my own voice at this point and I actually like it. I like its sound. And I’m glad that I have it. I can use it call the names of people dear to me, I can express what I need and want and even try to express my own feeling although it’s pretty hard, especially because my vocabulary is still limited.

But speaking itself is pretty hard and exhausting. It’s not easy for me to transform my thoughts into words, especially because I’m used to think in images, feelings, movements and memories… Oh, and in characters! Dororo told me that normal people use words not only for their speaking but also in their thoughts. And that they usually only think in words. That they even imagine things in words.

How restricted must be their thoughts, their imagination? Limited by words. My own thoughts are unlimited. I can think of things which can’t be described by words. But words even extended the world of my thoughts. I learned so much. Especially from Dororo.

I look at the little girl. She yawns.

“So, um… now that we now each other, I guess we should try to sleep”, says she-mama, “Jukai and I will sleep in the room next-door. You three can sleep here. If you need something, just tell us.”

“We will”, replies my brother, “Although, I can only hope that I can sleep despite this horrible pain.” “I’m sure you can! You are strong and brave and kind, so sleep!”, replies Dororo.

The three of us lay down where we have slept before, although I don’t know if Tahomaru have actually slept.

It is already pretty dark outside. She-mama closes the windows. “Sleep well, darlings”, she says when she leaves our room. He-mama follows her.

Tahomaru curls up on the floor.

“You sad?”, I ask.

“Yes. Yes, I am. I mean, I lost my foot. I can’t even look at my leg. Because whenever I do it, it feels like ice-cold claws are digging into my heart, trying to rip it out of my chest…”, mutters Tahomaru, his eyes are widely opened and he digs his fingers into his own kimono, “Just seeing it hurts like hell. Like my soul is being ripped apart. It hurts so much! And when there’s the pain radiating from the wound itself… It hurts, it hurts so badly…”

I can see the tears running down his left cheek. I sit down in front of him, cup both of his cheeks with my hands, then I lean my forehead against his and gently nuzzle it against his. I can feel that this eases his sorrow.

“I here. For you, Tahomaru. See!”, I say.

“Yes, I see. You’re a weirdo but I guess that’s okay…”, replies Tahomaru, “Thank you brother. I owe you my life.”

I shake my head. “Lay down, sleep”, I say. “You’re right. I should try to sleep; I need to rest…”

We lay down again. I roll onto my left side and place my right arm on my brother’s chest. “I’m still here”, gripes Dororo.

“Sleep well, Dororo. Sleep well, Tahomaru”, I say.

“Sleep well, Aniki. And you, too, brother of Aniki…”, replies the little one. “Yeah, sleep well, Aniue and annoying brat”, murmurs Tahomaru.

“Oi!”, shouts Dororo. I roll my eyes.

“Sleep!”, I hiss.

* * *

It’s the light, that wakes me up in the morning. How strange…

I open my eyes and the light dazzles me so much I have to close them.

But why? And why I can feel soft silk with my hands? Since when can I feel with these wooden hands?

I’m confused.

And I’m even more confused when I realize that I’m hugging my brother, who had tried to kill me several times and called me a demon god.

But then…I remember. The fight in the burning castle… My arms and eyes… I… I am whole! I am actually whole, yes, I am finally whole and it’s great!

I tighten the hug and nuzzle my head against his back. Tears of joy are coming out of my eyes… and are wetting my brother’s cloths.

“Aniue, you are suffocating me”, murmurs Tahomaru. “I sorry.”

I let go of him and sit up with still closed eyes. I blink a few times. My new eyes need some time to adjust to the light. Then I look at my hands and arms. They are strong. I touch my left arm with my right hand. It’s warm and both the skin and the muscles beneath the skin are so soft. I like them. It’s really good that I got them back.

I stand up. “What’s in your mind, Aniue?”, asks my brother, he sounds like he is still half-asleep. “I gather food.” “That’s a good idea…”, murmurs Tahomaru and yawns.

I look at him. The bandages on his left leg are dark red now. And there is some blood on the floor, too. His face is still quite pale, but it looks better than yesterday. His legs are also still naked, and he’s only wearing his two kimonos, although I’m sure he’s also wearing his undergarments.

I grab an empty bag and fasten that long sword of mine to the belt around my waist, then I leave the house and walk around in the forest.

It’s so bright outside. But I make the decision to keep my eyes open until I’m back at the house. I mean, I have to get used to seeing, right?

It doesn’t take me too long to find some fruits. I pluck some and put them into the bag. Two of these big fruits for everyone. I used to eat fruits like that when I was a child.

Dororo said, that meat is always good, so maybe I should try to catch some fish. I can already hear the river so that shouldn’t take too long. And there is enough fish for everyone. I walk into the shallow water near the riverbank and wait there. Then I try to catch a single fish with my hands, but it’s slimy and jumps back into the water.

Okay, fish. You’d better watch it!

I unsheathe my sword. Well, a shorter sword would have been easier to handle, but I didn’t take that sword with me to catch fish. I took it with me because it’s pretty hard to kill monsters with bare hands. But somehow, I manage it to catch some fish. Now, I’m a bit proud od myself.

Suddenly I can feel a powerful presence. The strange thing is, that I can’t feel any malice from it. Curious, I turn around.

There is a man. He wears a long blue kimono with a dark blue wave pattern, his eyes are pale blue, his hair color is a light turquoise. And speaking of his hair… it’s exceptionally long. Even longer than my hair. He has a sword. It looks like it’s shorter than mine and even the sheath has different shape than mine. But the strangest thing about him are the silver antlers that grow out of his head.

“Who you?”, I ask. The man smiles. “You can see me? How unusual… Most people can’t see me, even if they try”, replies the man, “Oh! I’m sorry! I forgot my manners.”

The man bows than continues to speak. “I’m Hoshimizu, nice to finally meet you.”

“Huh?”

The man laughs. “I guess, I should explain some things. I’m the kami of this river.”

“What’s that?”

“You could say I’m the spirit, the soul or the personification of this river”, explains the stranger, " There are lots, lots of kami in this world. A kami of the sun, of the moon, there are mountain kami and river kami like me, but also animal kami, weather kami, season kami and so on… Some kami are more powerful than others."

“Okay.”

“I met you the first time when you weren’t older than a few minutes. You were so small, so disfigured but yet so determined and strong. I let the boat in which you laid float to the spot where the doctor was, I hoped that he would care for you. And he did. Oh, you liked to play in my waters when you were a child, so cute! You watched the animals and sometimes you tried to eat them. It’s nice to see you now, grown up and healthy”, says Hoshimizu.

“You watch me?” “I did. Whenever you were near to my river”, answers the man. “But not help.”

“I brought you to the doctor. You wouldn’t be alive if I had ignored you. But yes, I did not help you when the monsters attacked you. But you didn’t need my help. You have the strength of a demon god. You are powerful enough to slay them”, explains Hoshimizu,

“And you even freed me years later from the chains they put on me. They tamed my waters and controlled my river so that I couldn’t do harm to the land of your father. I was helpless, but you freed me. I’m very thankful for that. The demon gods wouldn’t have been able to chain me up and control my river if they hadn’t gotten your body. They had been sealed in the hall of hell. But even if they weren’t sealed, creatures like them aren’t normally able to defeat a powerful river kami like me.”

“I help you?” “Yes, you did. Now I can do whatever I want! I’m a river, I bring life but also death. I let human drink from my water and let them use it to boil food or make soups and gruel, but if want I let them drown in my water or die of thirst or starvation by denying them my water. I’m quite powerful!”

“Dororo say, hurt people bad”, I reply.

“I’m not a human. I don’t have to care about human rules. But you are a human, at least mostly. You’ll always stay partially a demon god. But this Dororo is right. Humans shouldn’t kill each other”, explains Hoshimizu, “But if you ask me, I think it’s okay when the other person wants to harm you or someone else. With harm, I mean stuff like severely injuring people, mutilating, killing or raping them. Killing someone because he slapped or insulted you or someone else is not okay. Besides there are other ways to stop bad people.”

“I guess.”

“You should go back now. Your companions are waiting for you.” I nod and close my eyes for a moment. Hoshimizu’s soul is green, how strange… I haven’t met green souls which weren’t plants very often.

Then I run back to the house. I close my eyes as soon as I reach the door.

I feel relieved. The world is just too bright for me yet.

“Ah! Hyakkimaru, there you are!”, says he-mama.

“Have food!”

“That’s good. We’re all very hungry.”

“Aniki! You’re back!”

Dororo comes running towards me and hugs me, although she only reaches to my stomach. I stroke her back.

“Son! Are you alright?”, asks she-mama. I nod. “You took quite long, Aniue”, says Tahomaru. “I talk with someone”, I explain.

“You did? Who was it? A peasant? A fisherman?”

“No, Hoshimizu.”

“Never heard that name…”

“Hoshimizu is river.”

“You spoke to the river, seriously?”, asks Tahomaru.

I nervously tug at my kimono.

“He is river kami. He says.” Tahomaru frowns.

“He told you, that he is a kami? That was surely a lie. How did that bastard look like?” “Blue hair, blue eyes, blue cloths.”

“That sounds highly unusual, normal people don’t have blue hair”, says he-mama, “Maybe it’s true. Are you sure that person wasn’t a monster?” I nod.

“Hoshimizu powerful. Very. But not dangerous. Green soul, not red.”

“Plants, wood and good things are green, right?”, asks Dororo, while she is still hugging me. I nod. “But plants and wood both darker.”

“I hope you didn’t insult that guy. If he’s an actual kami, he could make our lives much harder”, murmurs Dororo and stops hugging me.

I grab my bag and hand it over to he-mama.

“Fish and fruits, looks good. Everyone can get a fish and some fruit, and the remaining fruits are for dinner”, says he-mama.

I walk over to Tahomaru.

“You okay?”, I ask.

“I’m feeling better than yesterday. My leg still hurts like hell, but the pain is different now, more bearable. Yesterday, it was a much more stabbing pain, now it’s duller and aching”, answers my brother, “And I feel less exhausted, too.”

“That’s good. I’ll change your bandages after our meal. That could hurt”, says he-mama.

“It can’t hurt more than cutting off the leg.” “I guess, that’s right.”

He-mama goes to the fireside and starts to prepare the food. I sit down and lean my back against a wall. Dororo is chatting lively with both of my mamas, asking questions, telling stories and so on. Tahomaru is pretty quiet in comparison. He only says something every now and then and sits there radiating sadness. And I am even quieter. I’m not good at talking.

“You are not a very talkative person, are you?”, asks Tahomaru.

“Guess. Talk, difficult. Weird”, I answer.

“Aniki got his ears back this spring. He was deaf until that day”, explains Dororo, “He got his voice back a week later, but he hated it at first.”

“Seriously? Then it’s a miracle that he can even speak as much as he can! He must be pretty smart in order to learn speaking so quickly after being deaf for the majority of his life”, shouts Tahomaru.

“Hm. I hadn’t thought about that, but I guess you’re right”, says he-mama from the other side of the room, “He probably would’ve become a great lord if he hadn’t been sacrificed to the demons.”

“May I ask who told you this story?”, asks Tahomaru.

“Hyakkimaru was the one who told me his story.” Tahomaru nods. But I can still feel his sadness.

“Tahomaru, okay?”, I ask. “I… I don’t know. The whole situation is very strange, isn’t it?”

“Strange?”

“Awkward, weird, confusing, not normal…”

“Okay. Why?” “Just two days ago, we tried to kill each other, you were blind, and you had no arms. Now, we are talking peacefully, you can see, and your arms are back, too, but now, I’m missing a limb and not you. Everything changed in the blink of an eye and now nothing is like it used to be…”, explains Tahomaru.

“Understand. Feel same.”

Then we wait until the food is ready to eat.

“Mm! It smells good!”, says Dororo when he-mama tells us that we can eat now.

The fish is as good as it was yesterday, but now we have these big fruits instead of the small berries. We finish the meal quickly.

Then he-mama kneels down next to my brother and carefully unwraps the bandages. I’m curious and open my eyes to see the wound.

“You said, it will hurt to change the bandages”, says Tahomaru, “So why don’t you wait a few days before you change them?”

“To minimize the risk of infection and to take proper care of the wound”, explains he-mama, “That’s why. And it will only hurt more the longer we wait.”

“Great”, growls Tahomaru.

When he-mama unwraps the last layers of bandages, Tahomaru screams in pain. And then, it is done, and he-mama starts to clean the stump.

The wet cloths become blood red very quickly. And Tahomaru whimpers whenever he-mama touches the area. Now, I’m even more curious and so I decide to look at the wound.

It looks different from the last time I saw it. It’s not an open wound anymore. I can see skin hold together by thread-like structures. Blood is seeping through them.

“Blood, normal?”, I ask. “Yes, the wound is still fresh and secondary bleeding is pretty normal for wounds that big”, explains he-mama.

“My eye bled for ten days after I lost it”, says Tahomaru, “I guess, this will bleed even longer, right?”

“It could. But it always depends on several factors. This wound is bigger and deeper in a way, but head injuries bleed a lot more then injuries on the extremities”, replies he-mama, then he applies some ointment on the wound, before he dresses it again. The new bandages are pure white.

She-mama had put the bandages in boiling water for a few minutes and then got them out so they could cool down a bit before he-mama could use them.

My brother is still silent.

“Tahomaru, okay?”, I ask. “Not really.”

“Want talk?” “Maybe.”

“About what?”

“Jukai-sensei said that we would move to his old house when I’m fit enough. Have you been living there with him?”

“Yes. Live there, with mama.”

“Is it in a village?”, asks Tahomaru. “No. But village near.”

“Did you visit the village with Jukai-sensei?” “Sometimes. But too many people.” Tahomaru laughs.

“But you sure had a bunch of friends? I mean, there are usually a lot of children in a village and you could play with them.”

I shake my head. “Children not like me. Throwing things at me. Angry, mean. Can’t speak, hear, see, back when. Always alone. Running in forest, jumping in trees, killing monsters”, I explain.

“So, you never played with the other children?”

“Play?”

“That’s hard to explain. It has something to do with games. Playing means that you are in a game. A game is any activity that makes fun. So, playing means doing something just for fun”, explains Tahomaru, “Wait, do you even know what fun is?”

I shake my head again.

“Of course! How can you have fun if you are always serious?! You should really try to become more relaxed and laid-back! You are as lively as a stone! Have some fun”

I can hear Dororo’s laugh.

“Well, okay. You told me, that you ran around in the forest. Why?”

What has that to do with ‘fun’?

“I run, feel good, feel light, free and strong, alive. Happy, I guess?”

“This feeling is called fun. It is a nice feeling. It is very similar to happy, but also different. It is some kind of happiness”, explains Tahomaru, “But back to my question. Did you ever play with the other children?”

I shake my head.

“I-I’ve already expected that answer, but still… You must’ve been very lonely… You were always alone…” “Not alone, have Mama”, I reply.

“That’s not the same. I understand that it wasn’t possible for you play with other children or make friends in your condition. But you are a human and humans aren’t made to be alone. And humans need friends. But I guess, you don’t even know how to make friends with someone else, huh?”

I look at the ground.

“Have friends, you?”, I ask. “Hyogo and Mutsu were my friends, but they were killed by the burning horse…”

“I, sorry.”

“You don’t need to apologize. I’m the one who’s responsible for their death. I was so stupid to make a deal with the last demon”, says Tahomaru. He sighs, “I didn’t even had the time to mourn for them properly…”

“I, sorry.”

“I told you not to apologize! I’m responsible!”, shouts Tahomaru, then he bursts into tears.

I don’t know what to do. I’m not used to comforting people. And I don’t think the forehead nuzzle would be enough. I’m feeling uncomfortable. But then he-mama appears from behind me and lays a hand on my shoulder.

“You should hug him. And don’t let go until he stops crying…”, whispers he-mama and goes away. I take his advice to heart and pull my brother into a close hug.

He cries and cries and cries. Until… he stops crying. He looks in my face, swipes away his tears and smiles a bit. “Thank you, Aniue…” I smile shyly, then I cup his cheeks and nuzzle my forehead against his.

“You’re such a weirdo, Aniue. But that’s okay…”, murmurs Tahomaru and then he returns the favor.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, that was the first chapter of this fic. I hope, you enjoyed it.
> 
> The name of the river god means "star water", I thought it would be a nice name for him, because at night, the water would reflect the night sky. He will be more important in upcoming chapters.  
> I also chose not translate the term kishin as demon. Fierce god, evil god or demon god are more direct translations. I chose demon god.
> 
> I didn't translate the term kami, too. I know it's mostly translated as "god", but they are unlike the greek gods or the norse gods. I'm not an expert for shintoism but I guess the spirits from "Avatar-The Last Airbender" are pretty much the closest thing to them you could find in western media. 
> 
> You may have noticed that Hyakkimaru uses the term "he-mama" for Jukai and "she-mama" for his mother. He thinks of both of them as his mama(s), but I thought that I should make clear of who is meant exactly and "he-mama" and "she-mama" sound much nicer than "huge-mama" and "thin-mama"...
> 
> I'm already writing the second chapter, but it could take some time before I update this fic. I'm currently writing other fics and I attempt to create original works, too. I have lots of distractions. But maybe I'll throw some of the characters from my original works into this fic, they would appear as original characters because that's what they are.
> 
> Did you like this chapter? Do you want more? Constructive criticism is welcome.


	2. Homecoming

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The groups arrives at Jukai's and Hyakkimaru's old house and they slowly settle in. A week later, they are done with repairing everything and Jukai suggests that Hyakkimaru could show his favorite places to his siblings, including Tahomaru whose wound is healing well. In the evening, it's Dororo who comes up with a fun plan for the next day.
> 
> Read, if you want to know what it is.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the second chapter and I am less nervous than I was when I posted the first one. This chapter is much more light-hearted than the first, especially towards the end, and less gory, too. The next chapters are supposed to have a similar atmosphere, but I assure you, it won't stay that way. There will be more exciting chapters in the future.

**Homecoming**

It’s now a week since the fight at the castle. I’m still adjusting to my new eyes. I still prefer the morning and evening hour because the light is dimmer around that time, but everyday I can open my eyes for a bit longer.

Tahomaru is recovering pretty well from both demonic possession and the loss of his leg. The wound still hurts, but he says the pain fades from day to day.

However, he suffers from nightmares and he flinches whenever something touches his injured.

Today we want to move on. My mamas have found a boat big enough for the five of us and Tahomaru is finally strong enough to stand on his own. Well, he can’t walk and needs to be supported, but that’s not surprising. He still misses a foot, no one could walk under such conditions. But he is strong.

We have spent the whole morning preparing for our journey.

“I packed some supplies. We have enough fruits and smoked fish for a week and some water containers”, enumerates he-mama. “And we have enough money to buy rice and vegetables when we arrive at the village”, adds she-mama.

“We should arrive in the late afternoon”, tells he-mama.

Then he, she-mama and Dororo climb into the boat. Tahomaru sits next to a tree and leans against it. I help him to stand up and then support him on the way to the boat. He sits down at the front bench and I sit down next to him.

“You should keep your eyes open, Aniue. Otherwise you’ll miss something”, says Tahomaru. “He’s right, Aniki! The forest is _beautiful_!”, shouts Dororo and crawls onto my lap. I wrap an arm around her tiny body.

“I do, maybe, keep open, eyes”, I say.

“You really should, Aniki!” I smile at this comment.

Then he-mama casts off the ropes, jumps into the boat and starts paddling.

I have to admit, that Dororo and Tahomaru were right; the landscape is breathtakingly beautiful. I try to keep my eyes open as long as I can endure it because I want to see everything. But the light hurts my eyes and I have to close them from time to time.

I gaze at the trees with their blazing red colored leaves, but also at the green fields, the reeds on the riverbanks and the sky which is covered by dark clouds.

I have no idea how long we are already travelling, but suddenly, the boat stops, and I almost fall from the bench. I look around and notice that the sun has already started to set.

“There we are!”, shouts he-mama and jumps out of the boat into the shallow water. He pulls the boat to the riverbank and we finally leave the boat.

I’m supporting Tahomaru on our way. But the way is not that long. My eyes are closed, but my soul vision still works, and I remember this place.

“Home?”, I ask.

“Not yet, but can you see that house over there? That is our home”, replies he-mama.

I carefully open my eyes and yes, I can see the house.

“Well, let’s go. We have a lot of work to do!”, says he-mama.

When we arrive at the house, I can see why. The roof is leaking, everything is full of dust and I have to chase off some monsters which were hiding inside. We spend the rest of the day cleaning the rooms, repairing the roof and bringing our stuff into the building.

It’s already pretty dark when my mamas start to cook. The fireplace brings some light into the rooms, but there are also some simple lamps.

He-mama has found a pair of crutches and gave them to Tahomaru, who’s very thankful for that. He seems pretty happy, that he can finally move without the aid of someone else. And Dororo is as curious as always.

Right now, she had noticed the huge shelf in the middle of the main room.

“Wow! There are _soooo_ many prosthetics in this shelf!”, she shouts.

Now, I’m curious too. And I’m not the only one. Tahomaru is coming to the shelf as well. He stops in front of it and reaches into one of the boxes, then pulls out a prosthetic leg.

“I wonder, if this would fit me…”, he says, probably to himself.

“I don’t think so.”

He-mama appears next to us. He grabs the leg.

“I’d have to amputate your leg above the knee if that should fit you. See, this one has a knee and this part would be around of what would have been left the thigh.”, he explains, then he puts the leg back into the box and reaches into another, taking out another prosthetic, but this one has neither a knee nor a part above it.

“You’ll get one like this. It has no knee and no part for the thigh. Maybe I have one that could fit you but if not, you’ll get a custom-made one.” “That sounds good, I guess”, says Tahomaru.

Then we hear a coughing sound and turn around. She-mama is sitting on the ground with a bowl in her hands. “The food is ready to eat”, she explains. My stomach growls in response to the smell.

A few seconds later all of us are sitting in a circle, eating fish and fruits.

“This is getting boring”, murmurs Tahomaru, “I can’t see fish and fruits anymore. I want rice and vegetable and meat!”

“What a spoiled brat you are!”, exclaims Dororo, “You should be happy that we have some food! It’s not the best, but it’s still thousand times better than starving to death! So, stop complaining like the crybaby you are!”

“I-I guess you’re right”, murmurs Tahomaru.

“Of course, I am! This is not your stupid castle where you can eat everything you want!”

“Dororo, it’s enough”, says she-mama, then she turns to my brother, “We have some money. Tomorrow, I will go to the market and try to buy some rice and vegetables. However, meat is way too expensive for us. But maybe your older brother could try to hunt down something edible, if it’s that important to you.”

“Does he know how to use a bow?”, asks Tahomaru.

“I taught him how to use a bow, although he preferred the sword. I actually had to hide his training sword when I taught him archery. But for some reason it was easier for him to aim at animals and monsters than at the training targets”, explains he-mama, “When it comes to animals, he truly is a crack shot. Although he never needed a bow when he hunted a deer. He is as fast as a horse, as agile as a weasel and as strong as a bear.”

“That’s true”, replies Tahomaru. He sounds amused.

The others start a quite lively conversation while I remain silent, but that doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy sitting among them and listening to their conversation while I eat.

Honestly, I can’t remember the last time I felt so content. I have a healthy body, I’m home, I’m with my loved ones and they are happy, too. This is all I ever wanted. I’m smiling and happy. Everything is perfect.

After the meal we prepare tatami mats and futons for the night. Tahomaru is relieved.

“Finally!”, he shouts out, “This is a hundred times better than the bare floor!”

“What about blankets?”, asks he-mama.

“That would be great!”

He-mama disappears and then comes back with five long, white kimonos. I grab one. It’s made of a thick and probably pretty warm kind of cloth.

“Why do you have so many blankets and mats?”, asks Tahomaru.

“I’m a doctor, some of my patients stay for a while”, explains he-mama.

I lay down on one of the futons and place the blanket on my body. Dororo pulls her own futon close to mine, lays down, then pulls her blanket over her body and snuggles up to my right side.

“It’s a shame that we don’t have headrests”, says Tahomaru, “But I can live with that.”

He lays down, too, and places his blanket on his body. His own futon is a meter away from my own. I guess, he doesn’t want to risk that I strangle him when I sleep.

Then both of my mamas decide to lay down. He-mama put out the last lamp and finally, it’s dark. I yawn and close my eyes.

* * *

Another week passed by. It was filled with lots of work. We had to clean the house, repair lots of things, prepare everything for the winter and so on.

We found a lot of trash, rotten stuff and broken things. We stacked them up to a huge pile and then up it down. A horrible idea... Tahomaru got paralyzed with fright, but then he started screaming and tried to run away after Dororo forcefully pulled at his arm to get his attention. He didn't get very far. Trying to run away is very stupid when you have only one leg. He fell down, tried it again, fell down again and then crawled into the house where we found him, curled up in a corner, crying like a small child. It was heartbreaking. I stayed with him for the rest of the day while the others continued preparing everything for the winter.

Dororo told me once, that there are four seasons, spring, summer, autumn and winter, and that the current season is autumn. She said, that in the autumn the leaves of the trees will change their color to bright red and he-mama told me two days ago, that the red leaves will fall down. I have also noticed that the air is getting cooler. But I don’t know anything about the other seasons. Though he-mama said that the winter always comes after the autumn.

Right now, I help him repairing one of the walls.

“Well! That looks good. The cold wind won’t come through this wall anymore”, says he-mama.

“Cold wind?”

“The winter is coming. You might think that it’s very cold in autumn, but it’s even colder in the winter. It becomes so cold that people can freeze to death or lose their fingers, toes or even hands and feet to frostbite”, explains he-mama.

“What’s frostbite? And what’s frost?”

“Frost means that it becomes so cold that the water starts freezing. It turns from water to ice or snow. You’ll see puddles with swimming ice in them, and the grass will be covered with rime. And frostbite means that the cold destroys your skin and muscles similar to heat. And sometimes it’s so cold that no blood will reach the extremities and they’ll die.”

“And what’s snow? And ice? And rime?”

“It’s hard to explain, but you’ll see. Winter is coming. Oh, and now that we are talking about it. You, Dororo, your mother and Tahomaru need warmer cloths. You don’t want to risk getting frostbite, do you?”

I shake my head, “Need fingers, toes.”

“Don’t worry. I’ll buy warm boots and gloves for all of us. And some other stuff, too”, replies he-mama, “It seems like we repaired all walls and the roof. Our house looks like it could withstand even the hardest winter. Now, all we need is to lay in stocks for the winter. And chopping firewood.”

I let my gaze wander over the landscape.

“Beautiful.”

“You are right. We live in very beautiful place”, says he-mama, “I have an idea. You could spend the rest of the day with Dororo and your brother. Show them the forest, the river and whatever you like. They told me several times that I should show them this place. But this is something you should do. This is your home and the place you grew up. Show them your favorite places if you like.”

Suddenly I feel very insecure. He-mama seems to notice that.

“What’s wrong? Don’t you know how to do that? Don’t worry, have trust in yourself. You have changed so much in the last year. I’m very proud of you. And now, be a big boy and show your siblings this area.”

I nod and run off.

“Dororo, Tahomaru, come! Show you places!”, I call.

“That sounds great, Aniki!”, replies Dororo, “What do you think, Taho?”

“Stop calling me ‘Taho’, you little brat. My name is Tahomaru!”, spits my brother, then he sighs, “But it sounds like a nice idea. Just wait a second! I need to get my crutches.” I nod.

Suddenly I hear he-mama’s voice.

“Hyakkimaru, come, catch it!”

I turn around and see something flying in my direction. I jump and grab it while I’m still in the air. Then I fall down and land on my feet. I look at the object in my hand. It’s my sword together with its sheath. Surprised I stare at the sheath and then at he-mama.

“You are still attracting monsters. Take it with you. You might need it”, he explains.

I attach the sword to my belt.

“The next time, you can use your twin swords if you like. But first, they’ll need a sheath and a hilt. Thankfully, they have the same shape and length as your old ones”, says he-mama. I nod.

“Well, you should go now. Go and have some fun with your siblings!”

I nod again and grab Dororo’s right arm. Tahomaru smiles in my direction.

“Let’s go, Aniue. Show us the place where you grew up.”

I walk ahead, Dororo and Tahomaru are following me.

“I’m so excited!”, whispers Dororo to my brother.

“So am I”, replies Tahomaru.

I keep going. They follow me into the forest. I lead them to a _huge_ tree in the middle of the forest.

“Wow! That tree is _big_!”, exclaims Dororo.

“Yes, it is. What an awe-inspiring sight…”, murmurs Tahomaru.

“I climb on big tree”, I explain, “I little, climb on big tree for _fun_ , I guess. I grow bigger, climb on tree, find monster, kill monster. And for rest.”

“You must’ve had a nice view over the area from the top of the tree”, says Tahomaru.

Dororo elbows him. “He was blind, you idiot!”, she hisses.

“Dororo, I’m fine”, I say to calm her down.

Then I get an idea.

“I climb on tree now!”, I call out.

And with these words I take a short run-up and then _jump_ onto the lowest bough. I look down.

“That’s crazy! How did you do that? A normal person could never jump _ten damn meters high_!”, shouts Tahomaru.

“I just jump!”, I call back, then I jump to the next bough and then the next and so on.

Finally, I’m standing on one of the highest boughs of the tree. I look around and… Wow! What an amazing view! I can see thousands of trees with their bright red leaves, wide, green meadows and dark brown (Dororo told me that color is called brown) fallow lying fields. And I can see the village with it’s houses and more villages in the distance!

I enjoy the view for around two minutes, before I decide to get back to Dororo and Tahomaru. This time I jump down the boughs until I think it’s safe to just jump down to the ground. When I land on the ground Tahomaru is so surprised that he falls down onto his bottom.

“Dear Heavens! You gave a me a huge fright, Aniue!”, yells Tahomaru.

I make an amused snort.

“That’s not funny!”

“Calm down, Taho! It’s extremely rare that Aniki laughs or smiles. So, it’s a very good thing when he laughs!”, replies Dororo, then she turns to me, “Don’t listen to that fool, Aniki. Laugh as much as you want. Although… I wish you would laugh because you are happy instead of laughing at other people. That’s not nice.”

“Next place let’s go!”, I say.

“Oi, Aniki! Don’t change the subject!”

“Let’s! Go!”, I growl.

Dororo sighs.

“Is that typical for him?”, asks Tahomaru. “Yes, unfortunately…”, murmurs Dororo.

I start walking.

“Oi, Aniki! Wait!”, yells Dororo. I smile amused.

I lead Dororo and Tahomaru to the river where I played as a child.

“What a nice place”, says Tahomaru.

“Look! Crab!”, I shout and pull on of them out of the water. Dororo is really thrilled by it.

“Aww! It’s a tiny, little crab! It’s so cute!”

“It’s just a crab, kid”, says Tahomaru and sighs.

I put the crab back and then grab a fish and pull it out of the water.

“Look! Fish!”

“I can see it, Aniue”, replies Tahomaru, “Put it back.”

I release the fish back into the river.

“Aniki, what’s so special about this place?”, asks Dororo.

“I little, play in water and sand. I grow big, kill water monster and drinking monster”, I explain.

“So, when you grew up you did nothing but killing monsters the entire day?”, asks Tahomaru.

I nod. “Can’t do anything else.”

“Seriously?”

“Can’t heal people. Can’t make fake limbs. Can’t help with field. Can’t help with food”, I explain.

“So, the only thing you ever learned was swordsmanship?”

“Can write, too. Like it more than talk. Though, Dororo can’t read. So, I must talk.”

“How did you learn to write?”, asks Tahomaru.

“First, Mama points on something, grab hand, write in earth”, I say, then I write the characters for river, tree, bird and water and after that I point at the river, at a tree, at a bird and finally, I hold my hand in the water and splash it.

“Later, I learn more and more. Understand more complicated things”, I add, “I know five hundred. I know it’s not all.”

“Five hundred is a pretty good start. You should ask Jukai-sensei to teach you all of the important ones, but also Hiragana and Katakana”, says Tahomaru, “And Dororo should learn to read, too.”

“Why? I don’t need it. And it’s just boring!”, yells Dororo.

“But you could read novels, too. Novels can be really exciting!”, replies my brother.

“I don’t need books!”

“You could read and write letters, notes, announcements and other stuff. Reading is a very important skill”, explains Tahomaru.

“Fine! I’ll learn it!”, spits Dororo.

“Go next place?”, I ask.

“Why not?”, replies my brother and smiles.

I lead him and Dororo through the forest again. This time I stop at huge rock.

“What’s this place?”, asks Dororo.

“I sit on rock, watch other white souls. The villagers. Then get sad, because I can’t talk or play with them and cause I’m alone”, I explain, “Still watch them. I, curious. They interesting. Back when.”

“That’s… sad”, says Tahomaru, “You must’ve been very lonely as a child.”

I look aside.

“Poor, Aniki…”, murmurs Dororo.

“Hey, guys. Can we head back home?”, asks Tahomaru, “I’m shattered. You have no idea how exhausting it is to hop around on one leg the entire day even with the crutches.”

I look at him. He looks very exhausted.

“Okay. Let’s go to home!”, I shout. Dororo laughs.

We slowly head back. Every now and then we make a break for Tahomaru. At some point I just offer him a piggyback ride. He accepts. Dororo carries his crutches for the rest of the way. Tahomaru is pretty heavy, but I’m very strong and have a lot of stamina. The sun has already started to set when we arrive at our home.

“There you are!”, calls she-mama, “We have started to worry.”

“We haven’t even seen a monster”, says Dororo.

“I sense monster all the time in forest. Monsters confused. Don’t attack”, I explain.

“What?!”, screams Dororo, “Why haven’t you told us?”

“Not necessary.”

“You are such a jerk!”, yells Dororo.

I just blink.

“Calm down, kids. There is no need to argue”, says she-mama, “Let’s go inside the house. The food is almost ready.”

We enter the house. I immediately notice the smell of the food and sniff a few times.

“Aniki, you’re not a dog”, says Dororo. “Food smells good”, I reply. “You’re a weirdo, Aniki.”

“I have to agree with that, brother”, says Tahomaru, “You really are a weirdo.”

“Would please stop calling him that?”, intervenes she-mama, “Your brother is different, but not weird.”

“Sorry, Aniue”, says Tahomaru.

“Sorry, Aniki”, says Dororo, “But you should still stop sniffing around like a dog.”

Then I can hear he-mama laughing.

“Don’t be too harsh on him. He got his nose before his eyes. It makes sense, that he uses it more than other people. He’s still adapting to everything”, explains he-mama with a smirk on his face.

“But humans don’t sniff like that!”, replies Dororo, “He has to learn this, or he won’t get any friends in his entire life!”

He-mama laughs.

“The sniffing thing is one of his minor flaws. It’s just weird, it doesn’t do any harm to anyone. He had _slaughtered_ an entire army and almost turned into a _demon god_ because you were kidnapped. _That_ is something we don’t want to happen again.”

“You know he is standing behind you, don’t you? It’s not polite to talk about someone if that person is present, too”, murmurs Tahomaru, “But I agree. The sniffing thing is weird, but that’s it. He has bigger problems. A lack of empathy, social skills, good manners and so on.”

“I, hungry”, I say.

“You are not the only one”, replies Dororo.

“Well, well. We should eat”, says he-mama, “Today we have fish and vegetables.”

We sit down and everyone gets a bowl and chopsticks. I’m quiet during the meal, but I’m listening to the others.

“How’s your leg, Tahomaru?”, asks he-mama.

“It still hurts, but the pain has faded a lot. Pressure make the pain worse, but it’s a lot better now”, answers Tahomaru.

“That is good to hear. Tomorrow I will change the bandages and if it looks good enough, I’ll remove the stitches.”

“Will that hurt?”

“I think so, but it won’t be too bad. Removing stitches from fingers and toes hurts a lot more. Some patients were screaming like I was stabbing their finger or toe. But hands and feet, especially fingers and toes are extremely sensitive”, explains he-mama, “Your stump might be more sensitive than the rest of your leg but there’s no way for it to be as sensitive as your fingers or toes. It will hurt, but the pain will be harmless compared to the pain of the amputation itself.”

“Speaking of your leg. How do you cope with it?”, asks she-mama.

Tahomaru averts his gaze from hers.

“Not good, to be honest. It still hurts to look at it and sometimes I just forget it only be remembered of it in a cruel way. But… I’m glad to have the crutches. It’s exhausting to use them, but it’s nice that I don’t have to ask anyone else if I want to move around”, answers Tahomaru, “Still, I hate it. I want to walk around, I want to go to the village, meet people, maybe even make some friends. But I’m chained to this house and the surrounding area.”

“It won’t stay that way. I’ll make you a prosthetic, you should be able to use it in a few weeks. But I have to tell you that it will be very exhausting for you to relearn how to walk, run and jump”, replies he-mama, “And there is no easy way. You will struggle and you will fall. And it will hurt a lot in the first weeks. It will take time and patience, sweat and blood, but you will walk again, just don’t give up.”

“That’s… encouraging…”, murmurs Tahomaru.

“It’s the truth. Glossing it over would be the same as lying.”

“Oh, don’t worry, Taho! We won’t let you down. We’re a family now, right?”, promises Dororo.

I nod.

“Dororo is right. We are a family and we will stick together from now on”, says she-mama.

He-mama laughs.

“Well, I guess, we are. Although, I must say, we are a pretty unusual family. But that’s not a bad thing at all!”

“F-Family. We are family. Like that”, I stutter.

Now my brother is the one who’s laughing.

“Well, I like that, too. I never felt alone since we left the castle. And I’m glad, that I finally get along with my elder brother. It was also great to meet Jukai-sensei and the brat”, says Tahomaru, he sounds happy, “Maybe losing the leg wasn’t a punishment for stealing my brother’s arms and eyes, but rather the prize I had to pay to get a real family.”

“I’ll forgive you calling me a brat”, growls Dororo, “But only if you play with me and Aniki in the river tomorrow.”

“How am I supposed to do that? I can’t really stand one leg for a long time and the bandages shouldn’t get wet either!”

He-mama intervenes, “You could play in the morning. I already planned to change your bandages tomorrow. And it won’t hurt as much if they are soaked.”

“Ha, ha! Now you don’t have any excuses not to play with us next morning!”, shouts Dororo, grinning cheekily.

But Tahomaru smirks, “Have you even asked _him_ if he wants to play in the river? I don’t know him for long, but he’s way too serious to play in a river like a child.”

“Aniki, say that you want to play with me and Taho tomorrow! Please!”

Now Dororo is begging _me_ to play with them in the river. I sigh.

My plan was to ask one of my mamas to teach me more characters, but it seems like I have to change my plans. Maybe it won’t be too bad. Maybe I’ll have fun.

Tahomaru already told me once that I was way too serious and that I should try to have some fun.

“Okay. I play in river. _With_ Tahomaru _and_ Dororo”, I answer.

I’m very happy with my answer. I even managed not forget the words “with” and “and”.

Dororo stands up and starts bouncing up and down.

“That’s great! I’ll play in the river with Aniki and his brother! We’ll have so much fun!”

I’m looking down. I almost forgot we were eating. Fortunately, I have already eaten my entire meal. Unlike Dororo. Her bowl is still pretty full. And the food is probably cold by now. She decides to eat it, despite it being cold.

When everyone has finished the meal, we prepare the room for the night. I help with the tatami mats, the futons and the blankets for me, Dororo and my brother. My mamas will sleep in a different room. Then we finally lay down and cover our bodies with the blankets.

“Good night, Aniki. Good night, Taho”, murmurs Dororo sleepily.

“I told you not to call me Taho!”, hisses my brother.

“Sleep well, Dororo. Sleep well, Tahomaru”, I murmur to distract them. _And_ to actually wish them a good sleep.

Tahomaru sighs, then he replies to my distraction, “I wish you both nice dreams.”

I make myself comfortable underneath the blanket and yawn tiredly.

* * *

The next day starts with a simple breakfast, then we head out to the river.

He-mama has handed Tahomaru three spare undergarments before we left. One is for him, one for Dororo and one for me.

Dororo undresses as soon as we arrive at the river. Except her underwear, she refuses to take that off.

“In that case, we shouldn’t take off ours either”, says Tahomaru in my direction.

I haven’t even taken off my kimono, so his warning was on time. But as soon as I’ve taken off my kimono, Dororo grabs my right arm and pulls me to the water.

We have chosen a quite deep and wide part of the river where the water is flowing very slowly so that there’s no chance that one of us could be carried away.

I step into the water with one foot, but only to pull it out a second later.

I’ve expected the water to be colder. It was already very cold before autumn and the air cooled down a lot in the past weeks. But the water… not so much. Maybe water keeps heat better than air.

I put the second foot into the water.

“Oi, Aniki! Hurry up!”, calls Dororo and pulls me into the deeper water.

I flinch as it reaches my torso.

“Cold!”

“I know, Aniki. Just go deeper into the water. You won’t feel the cold anymore when you are moving around”, explains Dororo.

I hesitantly walk deeper into the river despite the cold water on my belly. It feels a hundred times colder on my belly than on my legs. I stop when the water is almost at chest level.

Dororo follows me into the water.

“Cold”, I say again.

“Of course, it’s cold. I told you to move around but you are just standing there”, replies Dororo, then she looks at Tahomaru, “And by the way… why are _you_ still standing outside the water.”

I turn around to see what she means. Tahomaru hasn’t moved a millimeter. Well, at least he has taken off all of his cloths except his underwear.

He sighs.

“How am I supposed to get into the water, brat?”, he hisses, “I’m literally standing on my last leg.”

“You still have you crutches, haven’t you?”

“The sand is way too soft to use crutches on it”, says Tahomaru.

“Oh, c’mon! Are you such a coward, samurai boy?”

Dororo can’t stop provoking him.

“I’m not a coward, you stinky little brat! You’d better watch it! I’ll beat you black and blue!”, spits Tahomaru.

Dororo sticks out her tongue and starts to make faces.

“You little poisoned dwarf, be prepared, I won’t be merciful if I get you”, growls Tahomaru.

“But how do you want to beat me up if I’m in the water and you aren’t?”

“Just you wait!”

I roll my eyes and start to swim around. Dororo’s advice was useful. I’m getting warmer as I move. I swim back to the shallow waters after a few rounds to watch the other two while they argue.

Tahomaru is sitting at the edge of the river, his foot is already in the water. He looks terrible with this sad face of his and the bandaged stump of his missing leg.

He tries to force a smile as he notices me. It doesn’t trick me. I can sense how awkward he is feeling.

However, he is slowly pushing himself into the water. I walk to him.

“I help you?”, I ask.

Tahomaru shakes his head, “Please, don’t. I have to do this on my own.” I nod.

Tahomaru flinches as he puts his injured leg in the water and a second time as the water reaches his belly.

“You okay?”, I ask.

“Not really, but it could be worse.”

“Now help?”

He shakes his head again, “I told you that I have to do this on my own. I need that. I haven’t been able to do anything on my own since I lost my leg. Besides hopping around on those crutches. It’s just… I have to prove myself that I’m not completely helpless, that I’m not useless. Do you understand?”

“Guess, I do.”

I remember how I felt after the demon god ate my foot. I was miserable, the wound hurt, I was weak, alone most of the time (Dororo and the other children were playing outside and Mio was sleeping all day) and the room in which I was most of the time felt like a prison. I wasn’t allowed to go outside, and I even needed help if I had to relieve myself. When I was feeling better, I wanted to do everything on my own like I always did. But I couldn’t. And that made me angry.

I watch my brother as he gets into the deeper water. At some point he stands up to get into even deeper areas. He stops when the water reaches his chest.

“Look who decided to join us”, says Dororo with a sharp undertone.

I don’t get it. Why is she provoking Tahomaru like that?

“Shut up, brat”, growls Tahomaru, “This was your idea, remember?”

“I thought it would be fun if we all played in the river. But standing in the river is indeed boring”, explains Dororo, “So we should just play something fun. Like _this_!”

She splashes Tahomaru’s face with water as she shouts the last word. Tahomaru screws up his eye and tries to turn away, but only to fall backwards into the water as he loses his footing. He looks very pissed as he resurfaces, I can sense his anger deep down in my soul. It is strong.

“Just you wait, kid”, he growls, “Now I am angry.”

“C’mon it’s just water”, moans Dororo.

“First you were insulting me and now you are splashing me with water! What’s the deal with that crap!”, spits Tahomaru.

Dororo’s answer is splashing him again. Tahomaru is now as startled as he is angry.

“Just why?!”

“It’s fun, dumbass”, replies Dororo and continues splashing Tahomaru until he snaps.

“Fine! I’ll beat you at this game!”, yells Tahomaru and splashes _Dororo_.

And then Dororo doesn’t yell back at him, she _laughs_ , “Ha, ha, ha! That’s what I wanted!”

And she splashes him again.

Tahomaru is still just as startled as I am. In the next moment he gets angry again and the two start a water splashing fight. Then the fight turns into something else as Tahomaru starts laughing.

It’s ridiculous to watch their battle from the side and I can’t help but chuckle. Though the other two notice it and a moment later I’m the one with water in my face. Including my eyes. That burns.

I try to rub the water out of my eyes, then I decide to return the favor. And before I even know what happened I join the fight. Though, it’s not really a fight. It’s not serious at all. And there is no malice in it. Just joy… and _fun_?

That small chuckle quickly grows stronger and louder until I am laughing just like the other two. I realize that this what Dororo has wanted to do with us. She had told us that she wanted to play with us in the river. She was proving Tahomaru in order to get him into the water and then continued to get him to play with her. And now she did the same with me.

When everyone has enough of the splashing game, Dororo quickly finds something else we can do to have even more fun. We spend the entire morning in the river playing silly, but funny _games_ and we are laughing until it hurts.

But it all comes to end when he-mama arrives at noon. We leave the water. I’m helping Tahomaru to get back onto the riverbank.

“That was fun”, says Tahomaru. I nod and hum in agreement.

“It’s the first time I heard you laughing”, continues Tahomaru and smiles, “We should do this again. Oh, we need to have a snowball fight in the winter! That’ll be fun! And we have to build a snowman and building caves in snowdrifts! I always wanted to build a snow cave, but father forbade it.”

I still have no idea what snow is, but it sounds fun. I smile.

Suddenly, the wind rises, and I start to shiver with cold.

“We should quickly put on our cloths or we’ll freeze to death”, murmurs Tahomaru.

We reach the riverbank, Tahomaru sits down next to his own discarded cloths while I’m busy putting on my kimono. Then I turn around and watch him struggle with his own kimono. By doing so I notice how muscular and overall, how well nourished he is.

Unlike myself, I am much leaner and stringier. I guess the son of lord has always enough to eat. It’s not like I was starving, but I had smaller and less nourishing meals most of my life. And Tahomaru was probably training all day at the castle while I was busy with hunting monsters in the forest behind my home.

However, I’m stronger, faster and more agile than Tahomaru (even before he lost his left leg), but that’s because I have superhuman strength, speed and agility. I even have superhuman self-healing power.

Clean cuts and even small penetration and stabbing wounds heal will stop bleeding after a few seconds and heal within an hour. Broken bones heal in the same time. Injuries of my backbone and spinal cord will heal within minutes and I won’t even experience paralysis, though that doesn’t surprise me. I survived 16 years without a backbone or a nervous system at all.

Worse injuries need more time to heal. My leg needed two weeks to heal completely after the demon god ate the foot. And it took me four hours to heal after I fell into that gorge near the border of the Daigo territory. My spine, my shoulders and my legs were shattered after I feel into the gorge, so four hours are really impressive. Add to that all the internal damage that also healed during those four hours. And I don’t even get any scars after an injury.

As Tahomaru is fully dressed we head back to our home. I ask he-mama a question as enter the house.

“Can you teach me read, write?”

“Yes, I will. But today you’ll have to wait for the evening”, answers he-mama, then he lights the fireplace and Dororo, Tahomaru and I sit down next to the fire to warm up.

Last week Tahomaru has started to wear the garments for his legs again, but the left side is rolled up to the knee revealing the bandaged stump.

He-mama has told me that those garments are called _hakama_ and are usually worn by high-ranked samurai.

Right now, he-mama kneels beside Tahomaru and slowly removes the soaked bandages. Then he pours some alcohol over the sutures.

“Well, boy. Everything looks just fine. The sutures are ready to come off. I’ll remove them. As I said, it will hurt a bit”, says he-mama. Tahomaru sighs with relieve.

For some reason I’m not interested in watching the procedure. Instead I watch the fire. Tahomaru just hisses and yells “ouch” every now and then until it’s over.

“Soon, I won’t make bandage it as thick as now anymore. And from that day you can practice with a prosthetic. I won’t allow you to stand or walk on it in the next weeks, because the scars are still too weak and sensitive to hold your weight without a risk of opening again”, explains he-mama, “But you will start to relearn walking as soon as everything is healed well enough.”

Tahomaru smiles. It’s an unsure smile but it’s not forced.

“Sounds good. I’m tired of sitting around all day.”

He-mama has to treat a whole bunch of patients during the afternoon.

Dororo, Tahomaru and I have to stay outside with she-mama. She-mama teaches Dororo a few characters when he-mama leaves the house and walks to us.

“Hyakkimaru, I want you to help me with my next patient”, says he-mama.

“Why?”, I ask.

“Because I realized that you haven’t learned anything except killing. With those skills you could only work as a samurai. And I don’t think, you would be happy as one”, explains he-mama, “I want to train you to be a doctor. Although I don’t think this profession would you better, but I am neither a smith, a carpenter, a weaver nor a peasant, so I can’t teach you forging, carpentry, weaving or planting rice. But maybe you’ll like it despite my expectations.”

“You should try it”, says she-mama, “You could help other people. Healing them instead of tearing them apart.”

Dororo smiles at me, “Your mama is right. You are old enough for a professional training.”

I follow he-mama into our house.

There’s in a person in the main room. Their left forearm is bruised up and swollen. I don’t know how to react and I’m feeling very uncomfortable in this situation.

The person speaks to he-mama, “So, this is the boy you were talking about? He looks almost like that living doll you had the last years.”

“His name is Hyakkimaru. And though I know what you mean, I have to correct you. He was never a doll, just a terribly cursed child. But yes, that’s him”, replies he-mama.

“But if he was that doll thing, why isn’t he missing his limbs and eyes anymore?”

“That’s a long story. Too long for today”, says he-mama, then he waves at me, “You can come closer to us, Hyakkimaru. It’s okay. This man’s name is Shika.”

He explains to me, that Shika’s arm is broken. Then he shows me how to set broken bones and how to bandage and immobilize the arm. Shika leaves after this.

“What do you think? Is it already too much for you?”, asks he-mama.

I shake my head, “Is okay.”

“That’s good. Are you ready for the next patient?” I nod.

He-mama goes to the door and invites someone to go inside. Another person which I don’t know enters the room.

He-mama is talking to the person then he invites me to come closer.

“Hyakkimaru, this is Hana. She is one of my oldest patients”, says he-mama.

The woman (I guess? He-mama used ‘she’ when he referred to her…) bows down, “I’m Hana. Nice to meet you, boy. You must be Hyakkimaru. Is it true that you are the living doll that lived here?”

“Not a doll. Not a demon god either”, I say and grab my kimono.

I don’t know what a doll is, but it’s obviously not as bad as a demon god, neither Hana nor Shika had a hateful undertone.

Though it’ll have to be a not living thing if a _living_ doll is something special. I guess that makes it even worse of an insult than the term demon god.

A demon god is at least something that is alive (they can die, and if you can kill something it must’ve been alive before). They are evil, but they aren’t objects. Even evil creatures can feel, but objects can’t.

“Hyakkimaru is a human and he has always been one. Though I can understand, why so many people thought he was a living doll”, says he-mama, “But it seems that he hates being called that, so maybe we should change the subject. Why are you here today?”

“I have a nasty rash on my arm. Would you please look at it?”, answers Hana, then she rolls up her sleeve.

The skin has an angry red color. He-mama examines the rash and then he picks up a salve and applies it to the rash. Hana leaves after that.

Patient after patient enters the house, sometimes I have to help he-mama, but sometimes I just have to listen and watch. It’s actually very interesting, but almost everyone asks if have something to do with this “living doll” and that makes me furious. It’s just like he-mama said to Hana, I am a human and have always been.

Finally, the last patient leaves.

“I’m sorry that they called a living doll, but you looked like one to them the last time they saw you with all your prosthetic limbs, the mask, the glass eyes and all the bandages”, explains he-mama, “But what do you think about my work? Was it okay for you to help me? Do you like it?”

“Is interesting. Like it”, I answer.

“That’s good to hear”, replies he-mama, “You’ve asked me to teach you how to write and read, haven’t you? Now we have time for it until dinner, but we can continue after that. Is that okay for you?” I nod.

“I think it would be best if we just repeat the characters you already know. You know the movements to write them into the dirt, but you’ve never used a brush before or actually seen them, so I’ll teach you how to write them on paper or wood with ink and a brush. Then you could also see them.” I nod again.

He-mama stands up and goes around the house. It doesn’t take him long to come back, then he sits down next to me and shows me what he got.

First, he shows me a container filled with a black fluid, then a thin wooden stick with something very fluffy looking on one end and after that several sheets of an almost white material.

He points to the black fluid, “This is called ink.” Then he points to the stick. “This is a brush. And this”, he points to the white material, “Is paper.”

He shows me how to use the brush and the ink, then he shows me how to write the characters.

I’m a bit surprised at how they look. But I fix it in my memory. It actually makes fun to write like this.

Then he-mama teaches me how to read the characters, most of them can be read in more than one way, so I have even more to fix in my memory. I’m very keen to learn as much as I can.

We make a break when the dinner is ready to eat. Today, Dororo is even chattier than usual.

“Hey, Aniki! Your mama taught me a whole bunch of characters today! Did you learn a lot, too? Was it interesting?”

“Was interesting. And fun”, I answer and smile contentedly.

“That’s great, Aniki! I guess, you’ll have a lot to learn if you want to become a doctor.” I nod.

“The only problem this afternoon was that most of my patients only knew him from the time before he got his body back and he looked really angry whenever someone called him a living doll”, tells he-mama.

“I would get angry too, if someone would call me that”, replies Dororo while chewing her food.

“How was your afternoon, Tahomaru?”, asks he-mama my brother.

“Boring… I wish could go to the village to socialize with other teens. Maybe I would take Aniue with me and then I could try to teach him how to make friends”, says Tahomaru.

“I planned to go to the village anyway”, replies he-mama, “You all need warm cloths for the upcoming winter. The three of you could come with me to the market and then go around and explore the village.”

Tahomaru smiles, “Great! I felt like I would die from loneliness.”

“Just make sure to go easy on you and not to over-exert yourself”, says he-mama.

“I will”, replies Tahomaru.

“I have to ask you for a favor... Would you practice writing and reading with Hyakkimaru. You could write each other letters and read them together, for example.”

“That’s a good idea. I’m sure he will love it”, says Tahomaru.

“Why?”, I ask.

“Um… Because you could write down what you feel. I know you don’t like to talk very much, but I’m sure there’s a lot you want to tell us about but can’t or don’t want to say it. So, you could use the letters to tell me and everyone here about those things. For example, how you feel, what you like, what you want to do… Stuff like that! Of course, you could also complain about things you don’t like!”, explains Tahomaru with huge enthusiasm. I nod.

I like that idea. He is completely right. There is so much I want to tell, but I can’t. Now I’m really excited.

When he-mama and I continue our lessons after the dinner, I’m even keener than before. I try my best to write the characters as accurate as possible. It’s a lot of fun.

Tahomaru gives me a few advises while he-mama teaches me to write. I’s great, I absolutely love it. And Tahomaru seems to enjoy it, too.

Today was just awesome! I played with Dororo and Tahomaru, I helped he-mama with his patients and now I’m learning how to write with he-mama and my brother.

But then he-mama decides that we need to sleep. I help to prepare everything. But before I go to bed, I feel the need to relieve myself.

He-mama hands me a lantern. But then someone calls me just as I want to open the door.

“Wait, Aniue! I need to pee, too. I will join you”, calls Tahomaru.

The two of us go out of the house and head to the bushes.

“I’m so excited for tomorrow”, says Tahomaru on our way to the bushes, “What about you?”

“Afraid”, I say.

“Why?”

“They not nice to me, last time.”

“Sorry, I forgot. But you won’t be alone. I’ll be with you, I promise”, replies Tahomaru, then we walk on.

Dororo is already asleep when we arrive at the house a few minutes later.

I notice that her blanket is slipped aside, so I gently pull it over her tiny body. She is so small and fragile, yet so strong and resistant. I smile.

“That was nice thing to do”, whispers Tahomaru, “Now he won’t freeze this night.”

I nod, then I lay down on my own futon and cover myself with a blanket before I close my eyes for the night.

I am home and I love it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know this chapter came out in less than a week after the first one. This is because it was already half-finished when I published the first one. Future chapters will come out in much longer intervals and they won't come out in regular intervals. I don't want to stress myself with a strict schedule. The intervals coulb be quite long if I get writer's block or pretty short if I'm in a creative mood.
> 
> (Edit: I'm not an expert for this stuff, but the events from chapter one and from the last episodes of the anime must've been very traumatizing for Tahomaru. First, he lost his friends in a horrifying way, then he had a really brutal fight with his brother, he thought he had to die in the castle, his leg was crushed and later it got amputated while he was awake and felt everything. I edited the chapter in two places to show, that he didn't get away unscathed, that he is in fact traumatized and suffers from some kind of ptsd, however I'm not an expert and don't know much about this stuff. I just hope that I haven't messed it up too much.)


	3. A Trip to The Village

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The family make a trip to the nearby village. Dororo and Tahomaru want to use their chance and make some friends. However, Hyakkimaru has bad luck. He meets those who have already bullied him as a child and gets beaten up. Later he and Tahomaru meet a friendly young man, who wants to introduce them to his friends, but then Hyakkimaru gets lost in the village. However, someone makes sure he doesn't stay alone...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here is the third chapter!  
> I wrote 80% of it in the last three days after suffering from writer's block which was induced by way too high room temperatures (And it was even warmer outside!). This chapter is both, light-hearted and angsty, but there is a happy end, don't worry.

**A Trip to The Village**

The next day, I wake up early. It’s still very dark.

I stand up and look at my siblings. Dororo is laying on her back, sleeping peacefully while mumbling something. Tahomaru is laying on his side, curled up into a ball.

He looks so young and peaceful right now. But it hurts to see the scar crossing his right eye. The one I have destroyed. Tahomaru had told me that is wasn’t my fault, that it was his own fault, because he had listened to our father instead to his heart or that our father was to blame, because that fight would’ve never happened if father hadn’t fed me to the demons.

But that doesn’t change the fact, that it had been _my_ sword that had cut his eye. He doesn’t blame me for it, but that won’t change anything. I did this to him. And I guess, I feel _guilty_ about it.

Guilt is an almost unknown emotion for me. The first time I felt it was after Mio’s death. I felt guilty about it because I hadn’t protected her well enough. The second time was when I lost track of Dororo after we had an argument. Maybe she wouldn’t have gone lost if I had just listened to her. Now is the third time I feel guilt.

I walk outside to distract myself from all the dark thoughts. Of course, I take my sword with me. Maybe killing monsters can distract my mind. But someone would have to wash my cloths after that, and they have better things to do.

I want to do something that would make the others happy instead if making them even more work. Maybe I could get us some food. Dororo told me, that meat is always good, but Tahomaru is tired of eating fish. But what if I could hunt down a deer? Though I will have to use a bow if I don’t want blood on my cloths…

I find a bow and a quiver with twenty arrows inside the main room of our house, then I go into the forest. But what now?

Okay, first, I have to find my prey.

I climb onto a tree and look around. It doesn’t take me long to find a hind of a decent size. I pull an arrow out of the quiver, place it on the string and draw the bow. I aim at the chest, then I let the arrow go. It flies… and pierces the animal’s heart. It panics and tries to flee.

I jump down and follow the hind into the forest. It’s dead when I find it. The arrow is stuck deep inside the body. I pull it out and blood spills out of the wound, but it isn’t too much. The last time I used bow and arrows to _kill_ something was years ago, but my aim is still perfect.

I grab the animal by the head and start to drag it towards the house. But it seems that I’m not the only one interested in the animal’s flesh. A huge lizard monster leaps out of the shadows.

I instantly draw my sword and swing it with all my strength, decapitating the monster with a single blow. I swing the sword at the grass, the blood spurts onto the ground, then I use an old cloth to clean the blade from the remains.

It was Tahomaru who showed me how to take care of my swords properly.

I grab the hind again and continue dragging it towards the house. It’s actually much brighter when I arrive at the house. I open the door and enter the main room.

“Hyakkimaru! We were worried sick when we stood up and you were missing!”, calls he-mama and pulls me into a tight hug.

“Need breath!”, I gasp.

He-mama lets go of me.

“Have food”, I tell him.

“Really? Did you catch a fish?”

“No. Has four legs”, I answer.

“You caught a land-living animal?”

I show him the bow. “Use this.”

“You shot it? I’m proud. You are a good boy. Show me your catch.”

I go outside again and show him the animal.

“That’s a hind, Hyakkimaru. A hind is female deer. The deer itself is a male. And the young ones are called fawn”, explains he-mama.

“Oi! What’s going on?” Dororo’s voice is loud as is it high pitched. She runs outside.

“Wow! Did you kill it, Aniki?”, asks the little girl. I nod.

“What did he kill? A fish? A monster?” Tahomaru leaves the house, too.

He looks at my catch, “That’s awesome! Did kill it with just one arrow?” I nod.

“That’s even more awesome!”

“And lots of food”, says he-mama, “Come closer, I’ll show you how to skin and gut your catch.”

An hour later, I’m washing my hands and arms in the nearby river.

Gutting, skinning and cutting apart an animal is quite a nasty work. Even now it still feels like I am holding the slimy, bloody guts in my hands. But it’s a necessary work and I will do it again whenever I kill an animal.

The breakfast is ready when I arrive at our home and the others are already chatting lively.

“I’m so excited!”, says Tahomaru, “Are there many teenagers in the village? How big is the village? Is it wealthy?”

“It was a small village when I moved to this place almost thirty years ago, but most of my patients and their families, especially the amputees, stayed here, so that they would get my help soon whenever they needed it. And not all of them are peasants. There are quite a few tradesmen, traders, innkeepers and restaurant owners among them. It’s almost like a small town here”, explains he-mama, “The village is flourishing and there are quite a few teenagers living there.”

“Isn’t that great, son? I’m sure at least one of them would want to make friends with you”, says she-mama.

“Yeah, that’ll be cool”, replies Tahomaru, “But what about Hyakkimaru?”

“It would be wonderful if he could make some friends”, responds he-mama, “However, I believe that the four of us and maybe that old monk are the only people who he had ever interacted with. I guess, he has no idea, how to make friends with a stranger…”

Wow, that sounds encouraging…

“That’s not true…”, murmurs Dororo with a sad undertone.

“What do you mean?”, asks Tahomaru.

“There had been someone else… A girl… Her name was Mio. Aniki really liked her, but she died”, explains Dororo.

“How? Why?”

“It’s a story for another day. Today we want to have fun, right? Not be sad all the time…”, replies Dororo.

“That’s right, brat. We will have tons of fun!”

I can’t help but smile at their conversation, although the mention of Mio gave me a painful sting to my heart.

“I will stay with Aniki when we are in the village, so you can go around and make some friends”, says Dororo.

“But if you do that you won’t get to spend some time with other kids”, replies Tahomaru.

“Aniki will be alone if none of us joins him. And you really deserve to make some friends”, explains Dororo, “I mean, mama is right. Aniki doesn’t know how to make friends so if we leave him alone, he will be on his own and he won’t be able to make any friends.”

Not even Dororo has faith in me, great! Is there anybody who doesn’t think I’m a loser?

“First, since when do you call my mother ‘mama’? And secondly, I think I have a solution so that everyone of us can have a wonderful day! I will teach my aniue how to make friends! Then he can make his own friends and have a great time without needing us as a company!”, suggests Tahomaru.

He is right. I love being around my newfound family, but they already told me that I need to make some friends to have an even happier life.

They told me that people need friends because a family alone can’t fulfill a person’s need for social interactions. They also explained that this does not mean that someone doesn’t love his family. You can love your family and have friends.

I don’t know how to interact with other people or even make friends with someone, so it would be great if Tahomaru taught me how to do this.

“Like idea. You teach me making friends, sounds good”, I say.

Everyone turns around.

“Aniki? You’re back?”

“Aniue? I’m so sorry! I haven’t noticed you!”

“Hyakkimaru, since when are you here?”, asks he-mama.

“Uh…”

“It’s alright. Sit down and take a bowl. I will fill it with food”, says he-mama.

I nod, then I sit down and take the last remaining bowl. He-mama puts a smoked fish and some vegetables into my bowl.

“What do you think, Hyakkimaru? Are you excited about our trip to the village, too?”

I look into my bowl, “Don’t know. But afraid.”

“I know there were some kids who used to throw rocks and other things at you and chased you around, but you haven’t been to the village for a long time and a lot of new people have moved to the village in those years. There are teenagers among them who haven’t met you and will see you as a normal person”, says he-mama,

“And in opposite to what you may had to experience in the past year, most people don’t go around with the intention to make enemies with everyone they meet. Humans are social creatures. Normal people will always try to see the best in others and be friendly to them. You can’t mess up if you just look friendly at them and are friendly towards them.”

“That’s right!”, yells Dororo, “You just need to smile at them, and they will smile back! It’s not that difficult!”

I sigh and then try to smile.

Dororo shrieks, “Aniki, you look horrifying!”

“He’s right. I mean, smiling is good, but it shouldn’t be a forced smile”, explains Tahomaru, “Try to bring back happy memories. Like our water fight in the river yesterday or when we all watched the stars five days ago. That will help you to smile. You don’t need to beam all over your face. A tiny, but visible smile is enough to show everyone that you are friendly and won’t chew their face off!”

He-mama laughs. “Ha, ha, ha! That was a good one! However, your brother is right. A forced smile won’t do any good. A smile needs to come from your heart. Try to think about something that makes you happy if you have problems with that. I know you are not person that smiles and laughs all day, but you could at least try to smile when we are in the village, okay?” I nod.

“That’s a good boy!” He pets my head and ruffles my hair.

I smile happily over this affectionate act of his before I gently push his hands away.

“Maybe we should eat now. We need the energy for our trip to village!”, says she-mama.

Everyone agrees. It doesn’t take us too long to finish our breakfast. After the breakfast, he-mama examines my and Dororo’s cloths.

He sighs, “You two look like tramps! We need to get you less worn out cloths.” And with these words he disappears.

He comes back with a pair of kimonos that look definitely better than the cloths we wear right now. I get an all dark blue one and Dororo gets a smaller, but brown one. And he also gives us sandals.

“Tahomaru needs too!”, I say.

“Does he? His cloths seem new and are of a high quality, but I guess you’re right. Village people can’t afford expensive cloths like his”, murmurs he-mama, then he looks up, “Tahomaru! You need other cloths, too. Yours are quite conspicuous, normal people can’t afford silk cloths. The same goes for your mother, though I don’t have any kimonos made for women.”

Dororo audibly clears her throat, “Um… There’s something I have to confess… I’m actually a girl and not a boy…”

The other three look at her quite shocked. I don’t really care. I know Dororo is a girl. And I know it for quite some time. Although I don’t even know why people are making such a fuss about whether you’re a male or a female.

How do males and females differ? I mean, how do you know if someone is a male or a female? People will get angry at you if you think they’re female but they’re actually male and the same goes for the other way around. What’s so important about that stuff? And what am I? Why do I care about what I am? I mean, it doesn’t matter to me anyway, but I guess it matters to others…

“What am I?”, I ask, “Girl or boy?” Dororo and my mamas laugh.

I pout. Why do I feel like they’re pulling my leg?

“Aniki, you are hilarious!”, giggles Dororo.

“Huh?”

“That wasn’t a joke brat! Did you forget that he has clue how to make joke to begin with!”, hisses Tahomaru.

“What am I?”, I ask again.

He-mama snorts, but then he manages it to suppress any additional ones, “Well, the last time, I checked, you were a boy.”

“I am a boy?”

“Yes, you are.” Dororo and my mamas laugh again. I feel embarrassed… and confused.

“Why laugh?”, I ask startled.

“How can you not know what gender you are?”, giggles Dororo, “That’s just hilarious! I thought you were smarter!”

I frown at that last comment. What’s so wrong with that question?

“How know? What’s difference?”, I ask.

Dororo goes into the next fits of laughter, but this time, he-mama stays serious. He just looks at me with a weird expression I can interpret. So, I have to concentrate on the emotions he radiates. Sympathy, feelings of guilt and regret. But why? Have I done something wrong?

“There’s nothing about it to laugh at”, says he-mama, then he turns to me, “Has no one explained it to you?”

I look at the floor and shake my head.

“Alright. I will explain it to you. Everything. I mean, you’re technically old enough. But we have to do this another day, is that okay for you?”, asks he-mama.

I nod.

“That’s good.”

Now, Tahomaru giggles, “Good luck, Aniue. You just signed in to get ‘The Talk’! Be prepared to die of embarrassment!”

Dororo goes into the next fits of laughter, “It will change your point of view forever!”

“You two are so childish!”, scolds she-mama my siblings, “I have to admit that I was very neglecting towards you, Tahomaru. But I remember for sure that you couldn’t look Mutsu into her eyes for weeks after your father talked about that subject with you.”

Tahomaru’s face goes red in an instant, “Mother, how dare you!”

I don’t even know why, but this time I laugh together with Dororo.

An hour later, we arrive at the village. Tahomaru is now wearing a dark green linen kimono instead of his red silk kimono. She-mama has also changed her cloths.

I think it feels a bit weird to walk around on sandals but at least it doesn’t hurt. And they protect my feet against sharp stones.

He-mama is carrying Tahomaru on his back, but now he sets him down on the ground and Dororo hands him his crutches.

“Thank you”, says Tahomaru.

“You can repay me by having a great time”, replies he-mama. Tahomaru smiles. I can feel how happy he is.

“The same goes for you and Dororo, have a great time”, says he-mama.

First, we follow he-mama and she-mama to the market. There are so many people and they are selling so many different things. I want to see everything, but it’s just way too loud and crowded.

I can’t stand crowded places like this. It feels like I can’t breathe anymore. And all the noises fuse together to a horrifying cacophony.

My ears are still way too sensitive for places like that. By now I am able to distinguish between sounds most of the time. But loud and crowded places are just too much for me. The sounds melt together, and I just want to disappear.

I panic and run away. Dororo follows me. I run around the village until I finally find a quiet alleyway. I kneel down and press my hands onto my ears. My heart is pounding like crazy in my chest and I’m breathing heavily. I also shut my eyes.

Suddenly I feel something touching my arms and my back. I look down with my eyes still closed only to see a familiar spirit, it’s small and white. Dororo.

She’s hugging me and gently strokes my back. Both, the pressure and the feeling of my kimono’s rough material on my skin, allow me to slowly calm down. I take my hands off my ears.

“It’s okay, Aniki. You’re safe. Everything’s alright”, says Dororo and cups my cheeks.

“Ah! Here you are, Aniue!”

I open my eyes and look up. Tahomaru stands at the entrance to the alleyway, he leans on his crutches with a smile of relieve on his face.

“I’m so glad, I found you. Why did you run off?”

“T-Too loud. T-Too crowded”, I answer.

“Sometimes, Aniki panics when we are at a loud or crowded place. It’s just too much for him”, explains Dororo.

“Hurts in ears.”

“I understand. Well, we don’t have to accompany mother and Jukai-sensei on the market. The rest of the village isn’t nearly as full and loud as the marketplace”, says Tahomaru, “Would that be okay?”

I nod.

“That’s great. Maybe we could find a nice place to eat. I got some money. Oh, and just tell me if you want me to buy something for you, okay?”

Dororo jumps to her feet and starts bouncing up and down. I smile at her silliness and stand up, too.

Dororo laughs, “You’ve been smiling a lot in the past week, Aniki! That’s great! It means, you are a lot happier now!”

That… That is right! I haven’t paid attention to it before, but I am content and happy. I’m not angry anymore or frightened.

I don’t have to fight with the demon gods anymore. I made it up with Tahomaru and even she-mama to some degree and I’m now living together with those who are dear to me, I even played with Tahomaru and Dororo in the river yesterday and we all had lots of fun. There is no reason to be unhappy. I smile again.

“I-I am happy. Let’s go. Have fun!”, I call out.

Tahomaru laughs. “He’s right. Let’s go.”

We leave the alleyway behind and start exploring the village. It’s actually pretty big. There are houses everywhere. We are walking around for quite some time when Tahomaru chooses to go into a building. Dororo and I follow him. The room we enter is full of wooden statues.

“Hello! How can I help you?”, someone approaches us, “I carve statues of all bodhisattva I know. Do you search for a specific one?”

“Yes, I would like to buy one of Kannon. My mother had one of those for a long time, but it was destroyed”, answers Tahomaru.

“And what about your companions?”

“Do you want one?”, asks Tahomaru. I shake my head. However, Dororo picks up something.

“Look at that, Aniki! It’s a carved horse. And there’s a priest!”

The stranger, probably the owner of this shop (I guess, it’s a shop…) smiles. “Oh, you found the toys! I made them for the children who accompany their parents to this shop. Do you want one?”, asks the person.

“Yes! I want this horse and… this dog figure”, says Dororo.

Tahomaru pays everything, then we leave the shop.

Dororo hands me the carved horse, “That’s for you. I know you love horses. Now you have one, although it’s not an actual horse.”

I’m surprised but I take the figure and store it in my kimono.

“That’s a nice gift”, says Tahomaru, “You have to say ‘thank you’ to Dororo, Aniue.”

“Thank you, Dororo.”

“You’re welcome, Aniki.” I smile.

Then we continue to explore the village. It’s such a lively place, no street is really empty. Children are playing, some adults wander through the streets, some are talking to each other. Something that surprises not only me, but also Tahomaru and Dororo is the amount of people with prosthetics in the village.

Most of them are adults but we also encounter a few children, although theirs are almost always too small for them. Dororo notices it, too, and tells it to my brother.

“I guess, it’s because Jukai-sensei wasn’t here in the last year, so there was no one to make them fitting ones after they outgrew the old ones”, suspects Tahomaru, “Maybe we should tell them, that the doctor is back, so that they can get new ones.”

“That’s a great idea!”, replies Dororo and runs to a family who is standing in front of a shop.

“I hope, I can get my own one soon”, says Tahomaru, “I’m tired of hopping around on crutches. I want to walk around like everyone else.”

I had been in the same situation once and felt pretty much the same. Mio was the only one who tried to comfort me. Dororo and the other children just seemed to think, that I was okay despite the fact, that I had lost my leg and had been in a lot of pain.

Tahomaru needs some comfort, too, but I have no idea _how_ I could comfort him. I don’t even know how to tell him, that I don’t how know what to say. And Dororo isn’t here either.

I nervously tug at the fabric of my kimono. How can I help Tahomaru? He is my brother, he is family, I care for him, but how can I show this? The only two options I can think of are nuzzling his forehead with my own and telling him that I’m here.

But he-mama, she-mama, Dororo and Tahomaru keep telling me that the forehead nuzzle is something inappropriate and that I shouldn’t do it if there are other people around. I also have the feeling that ‘I’m here’ won’t help either.

But I really want to help my brother. I want to comfort him. But maybe I should just try.

“Ta-Tahomaru, I-I’m h-here, for you. N-Not be sad. Y-You be okay, s-soon. I-I’m sure”, I stutter.

Phew, that was tough. I still don’t like speaking, especially long sentences like that. And I had to concentrate very hard to form it. But it seems to work. Tahomaru smiles.

“Thank you, Aniue. I really appreciate your words.”

Why does this make me so proud? How is that possible?

Then Dororo comes back, she’s bouncing up and down.

“Aniki, Taho! I want to play with some of the children. Is that okay?”

Tahomaru laughs, “Of course, it is. But don’t forget that we have to meet each other at the market before the sun sets.”

“Great! Have a nice day!” And with these words she disappears again.

“What a lively child!”, says Tahomaru, “And almost always smiling. The world would be a better place if everybody were as happy and optimistic as she is.”

I don’t know. Wouldn’t that be boring if all people were the same? I kick a pebble.

“Tahomaru? How make friends work?”, I ask.

“Depends on how old you are, I guess. I know, I’ve been talking a lot about that this morning, but I’m almost as clueless as you are”, answers Tahomaru, “I just repeated what others told me. Mutsu and Hyogo were my friends but only because we were forced to grow up together. They were older than me. Father wanted them to be my bodyguards and companions, but we made friends with each other in a short amount of time.”

“Oh…”

“Don’t worry. It can’t be too hard. I mean, people are made to form bonds with others, so maybe it will work out just fine if you just follow your instincts and listen to your gut feeling”, says Tahomaru,

“But it’s a lot easier for children. I bet Dororo will have at least five new friends at the end of the day. They just play with each other, talk a bit and – _Bam!_ – they are friends! I’m not an expert for that stuff, but making friends gets more and more complicated the older you get.”

I look at the ground.

“Oh, come on! It can’t be that difficult. I mean, almost everyone has at least one friend and that’s enough. You don’t need to make hundreds of friends. One true friend is enough. You are a really nice person, you are honest, sincere and upright. And very caring. All of these are good qualities. Think positive, I’m sure you’ll gain someone’s friendship!”, declares Tahomaru with enthusiasm.

I can’t help but smile. Tahomaru is really good at improving other people’s self-confidence and boosting their self-esteem. I’m sure he would be a great leader. If he wants to be one.

We continue our way through the village, until Tahomaru spots a group of teenagers.

“Come on, you should go and try to talk with them!”, he says.

“Why?”

“To make their acquaintance. Meeting new people and talking with them is the first step of making new friends. You won’t be able to make any friends if you always stay away from other people”, explains Tahomaru.

“So, we talk and then we friends?”

“No! It’s just the first step, idiot! You talk with them and decide if you like them or not and they decide if they like you or not, too. If both of you like the other person, you will talk about more personal stuff to get to know each other. But not too personal. Don’t tell them your past or how your most recent poop looked like.

But you can tell each other, what you like to do and what you don’t like to do. You can tell them where you come from, where you live, that you are living with me, with your mother, your adopted sister and your foster father. You can tell them that your foster father is a doctor and that you train to become a doctor as well”, replies Tahomaru.

“It’s mama and mama”, I say.

Tahomaru sighs.

“I know that you call both of them ‘mama’, but Jukai-sensei is a man, so papa fits much better. And talking about that. Mama and papa are terms used by small children. You should refer to Jukai-sensei as father and to our mother as mother, okay? At least in public.”

“Hm.”

“You can call them mama when we are back at home. Or better mama and papa. But here it is mother and father, okay.”

I nod reluctantly.

“Great! Now back to our previous topic. So, you met someone, you are both interested in each other and you like each other to a certain degree. Now you are acquaintances. If you both are okay with it, you can meet each other regularly, talk to each other, you do different things together to deepen and reinforce your relationship. That’s how you get from acquaintances to friends.”

“Not like talking.”

“I know, but it’s the only way. However, you could send each other letters on days you can’t meet. But talking is something you can’t avoid in this world”, replies Tahomaru, “And now try it. Try to talk with these guys. Maybe one of them becomes your new acquaintance. I know, you can do this!”

“Not know them!”, I say.

“That’s why you do this. To get to know them!”, replies Tahomaru, “Don’t worry. They won’t bite you. And I’m not too far away. However, I won’t be able to help you if you should get into a fight, so don’t provoke them if you can avoid it. I’m missing a foot, so there is no way I could defend you even if I wanted to. Just remember, think positive!”

I sigh and then slowly approach the group. Halfway through I turn around and look at Tahomaru, who is smiling encouragingly. I sigh again and continue my way.

Finally, I stand next to the group. What am I supposed to say, now? I don’t even know their names…

“Um… guys, there is someone standing next to us”, says of them.

“And?”, asks the bulkiest of them.

“He looks almost like that puppet boy, just more alive…”, says number one again. Now, all of them are looking at me.

“You are right. He really looks like that puppet”, says the bulkiest one and stares right into my eyes, “What’s your name, ponytail?”

“Hyakkimaru!”

“Hundred demons! What a shitty name! _Hyakkimaru_ , tell me, do you know a young guy of your age whose entire body is made of wood?”, asks Mr. Bulky now.

I guess, I would’ve fit to that description a year ago.

At first all I could feel from them was interest, but now I can feel malice, too. It’s enough to give me goosebumps. I have the feeling that something is very, very wrong and that I should go back to Tahomaru without showing the other teenagers my back as soon as I can.

However, I’m frozen to this place and all I can do is answering the question…

“Th-That is m-me. N-Now, h-have everything b-back, though”, I stutter with fear.

“Is that so?”

I can sense danger, but I’m still frozen into place. I manage to nod. Mr. Bulky laughs. It’s not a happy or friendly laugh. It’s dripping with _malice_.

Why am I still here? I fought fearlessly against _demon gods_ , so why am I a shivering mess in front of these six teenagers?

I killed hundreds of soldiers on a single day, so why are those six teenagers more frightening than the demon gods or an entire army?

I nod.

“That’s good”, says Mr. Bulky and punches me into the face.

The brunt is strong enough to knock me off my feet and send me flying.

I crash hard onto the rough ground, grazing my arms, hands, knees, shins and feet, and bite my tongue due to the severe impact.

I’m dazed and everything hurts. My right cheek, my tongue, my arms and legs, hands and feet, my ribs, my hips and shoulders. At least I haven’t lost a single tooth.

I spit out blood. My tongue is bleeding a lot.

“Aniue!” I can hear Tahomaru calling me from behind.

My sight is blurred, but I can still make out that Mr. Bulky is approaching me.

All of my instincts scream at me either to run away, find a shelter and hide or to draw my sword and attack them with it.

However, I’m still too dazed to move.

Mr. Bulky kicks my ribs with an incredible force. I whimper in pain as one or two ribs break with a sickening _crack_. The next breath I take hurts like hell.

I try to shield my body with my arms and legs as Mr. Bulky continues to kick me. I can feel my spine breaking when he kicks my back and I lose the feeling in my legs for a few seconds.

I’m glad that I have these demonic healing powers, otherwise I would be paralyzed for the rest of my life instead of just a few seconds.

I gasp and try to stand up only to be kicked to the ground again.

However, I’m not a person who gives up this easily, so I summon all of my strength to jump onto my feet, spin around and kick Mr. Bulky with a good amount of brunt.

He crashes into a near wall. The other teenagers look at me with shock.

I take the chance and run as fast as I can.

“Go, get him! Beat him to death!” I can hear of Mr. Bulky.

The other teenagers are following me through the streets and alleyways. As I run through one of the alleyways, something hits my head very hard and go down from the impact.

They start punching and kicking me, but I fight back. I only avoid hitting them in spots that might kill them. However, five against one is still very unfair even if the single person is as strong as ten normal people.

My entire body still aches when I finally find Tahomaru. Then I fall down as my knees give away.

When he sees me, Tahomaru throws his crutches aside and hops to me.

“Aniue, you look terrible! And you are bleeding”, he calls out, “We have to find Jukai-sensei! Can you walk?”

I nod, at least I can try.

Tahomaru can’t support me after all. I wait for him as he picks up his crutches.

“They were really brutal, I was afraid they might kill you”, says Tahomaru.

I show him my bleeding knuckles. I usually don’t fight unarmed, but I can, even though these hands have sensitive skin that breaks easily.

“I see, you got some good hits, too. But why did they do this to you?”, asks Tahomaru, he sounds very concerned.

“Know me from back then”, I explain with a broken voice, “Throw things at me, shoved me to the ground or aside, chased me around.”

“So, they are those kids who bullied you as a child? Good to know. I will make a mental note to avoid them in the future. I don’t want to make friends with my aniue’s bullies”, says Tahomaru.

We slowly head back to the marketplace. Tahomaru tells me to sit down on an empty barrel before he leaves me there. He comes back a few minutes later together with he-mama.

“Hyakkimaru, what happened to you?!”, shouts he-mama.

I just look at my feet.

“We met a group of teenagers and I told him to go to them and talk with them, but it turned out they were his bullies and they started to beat him up”, explains Tahomaru.

“It’s not your fault, boy. Not even Hyakkimaru himself knew how they looked like as he was still blind the last time, when he met them. So, there’s no way you could’ve known that they were his bullies”, says he-mama, then he examines me briefly, “Three broken ribs, a bruised jaw, lots of grazes and bruises, a big laceration on the back of the head and two broken vertebrae, but no signs of paralysis. But you have very likely a concussion.”

“Is it bad?”, asks Tahomaru.

“He survived sixteen years without limbs, skin, nerves, a spine and his spinal cord. He will be alright”, replies he-mama, “I will bandage his head. His wounds should be healed completely in a few hours. However, he needs to rest. Maybe you could get something to eat.”

“He really has strong self healing powers, hasn’t he”, says Tahomaru.

“He has, but I don’t know why. Though, I’m glad he has them, otherwise he would’ve died a long time ago”, replies he-mama.

He unties my hair and then cleans the wound before he bandages it.

“I will cut your hair in the following week. Don’t worry, it will just regrow, and it won’t even hurt you”, says he-mama.

“But…”

“There is no but. It’ll be a lot easier to comb and take care of it if it’s shorter”, replies he-mama, “You are injured, and you have a concussion. You need some rest, just stay here for maybe an hour, then you can go and eat something with Tahomaru.”

“Don’t worry, Aniue. I will stay here with you, so you won’t be alone”, says Tahomaru and sits down next to me.

“I will leave the two of you now. But make sure to call me of Hyakkimaru’s condition is getting worse”, says he-mama and leaves.

“I’m so sorry, Aniue”, apologizes Tahomaru, “I just wanted to help and now you got beaten up. I would understand it if you didn’t want to meet other people now.”

I shake my head. “But I want.”

“Really?” I nod.

I know that I lack important social skills, but I need to improve them because humans are social and if I want to life as normal as possible, I have to learn them.

I also have to prove it for myself that I’m capable of learning such important skills, that I’m capable of participating in normal social life. Besides, I never gave up easily, so won’t give up this goal either.

And maybe, maybe I actually want to meet other people than my family. Maybe, maybe I actually want a friend, someone with whom I can spend my time. Someone who can help me, explain things to me and show me how normal people life.

I love my family but we are far from normal: Dororo is an orphan girl who had no place to stay for a long time, Tahomaru grew up as the heir of a lord, she-mama was the wife of a lord, he-mama was once a torturer and is now a doctor and I am even less normal than them.

“I’m glad that you don’t just give up”, says Tahomaru, “That would be the easiest thing to do. But you’ve never been the type of person who always seeks for the easiest way. You aren’t lazy; you are determined and sometimes very stubborn. That can be bad or good, depending on the situation.”

I smile.

“I hope this day isn’t ruined for you because of these stupid idiots who beat you up”, says Tahomaru, “People like them aren’t worth a thought. But as long as there aren’t more idiots than them in this place, your next try won’t end with you being beaten up.”

I nod. Tahomaru smiles.

“I, um… I bought a talisman for you while you were gone. It’s supposed to bring you good luck with friendships. I don’t know if it will work, but it can’t do any harm either.”

Tahomaru hands me a small pouch similar to the one I already have, the one with my family crest.

“Just don’t open it or the charm will disappear”, explains Tahomaru.

I nod and take the talisman. It’s blue with a pattern that looks like waves.

“Like color”, I say.

“It’s a nice blue, isn’t it? They sell these talismans at a local shrine dedicated to the river kami. He really is a thing and since you already met him, I thought maybe there’s an actual charm in your talisman”, replies Tahomaru, “I was brought up with Buddha’s teachings like most samurai, but since you met a kami, they have to be real. Maybe Buddha and the bodhisattva are real, too.”

“Not know. Not meet them”, I say.

Tahomaru laughs, then he calms down again, “Do you want to know more about kami, Aniue? I mean, you met one so maybe you want to know more about them.”

“Not know”, I say.

“Just think about it. But if you want to know more, you should go to the shrine. Mother and I were brought up with Buddha’s teaching and Jukai-sensei most likely, too. Even Dororo seems to follow his teachings”, replies Tahomaru, “That’s why you should ask the Shinto priests if you want to know more.”

“I will.”

“I don’t think that you’ll ever be a religious person, but most people are. You should respect that.”

“I will.”

We stay at the place for while before Tahomaru thinks that I may have had enough rest.

“Come on, I’m very hungry. Are you hungry, too, Aniue?”, asks Tahomaru.

I nod.

“Well, then we should go to eat something, right?”

I nod again and stand up.

It doesn’t take us long to find a nice, little inn which sells food. Tahomaru buys us some. I stand next to him.

“Aniue, would you bring our bowls to the table? I would like to do it myself, but I can’t”, asks Tahomaru.

I nod. Then I take the two bowls and put them on a table. Tahomaru follows me and sits down next to me.

“What’s that?”, I ask.

“It’s ramen.”

“Ramen?”

“Soup with noodles, vegetables and in this case beef. Some people prefer them with fish or other seafood, some with pork or poultry”, explains Tahomaru, “I hope, you like it.”

I try a few bites. It’s delicious. I really relish it.

“You seem to like it”, says Tahomaru.

I nod.

“And I was afraid you might not like it. Maybe we could come to this place more often, their food is really good but also inexpensive”, adds Tahomaru.

I bring the bowls back to the counter, as we have finished our meal, then we leave the place.

We walk around for some time when suddenly someone speaks to us. We turn around.

“Hi, there! Are you new to our village?”, asks the stranger, he smiles.

I can’t sense any malice from him, so this person can’t belong to the group of Mr. Bulky.

“Yes, we are new to this village. I assume, you are not. Do you know any good places to hang around?”, replies Tahomaru.

“Of course, I do. My family moved to this place over a year ago after my father lost an arm. The doctor made him new one and now we are living here. We were able to cultivate a nice piece of land and this year we were able to harvest some rice. It was easy to keep the paddies wet thanks to the river”, tells the stranger, “Oh, I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Kohaku. And who are you?”

“I’m Tahomaru. And my aniue’s name is Hyakkimaru. He can look pretty grumpy, but he’s actually very nice”, answers Tahomaru.

“So, where do you live?”

“We actually live with the doctor. My Aniue and I were separated a long time ago and the doctor raised him. Our mother has left our father and moved together with Jukai-sensei, that’s how met again”, explains Tahomaru. It’s completely a lie.

“So, your brother actually lived here for quite a while?”

“Yes, but he was born deaf and blind, so he couldn’t leave the house. However, his eyes and ears got fixed this summer.”

“Can he understand us, if he was deaf for most of his life?”

“He is very intelligent and learned to speak very fast. However, he is still better at understanding what other people say than speaking himself, but we are working on that.”

“That’s good”, says Kohaku and turn to me, “Do you like it here?”

“Not know.”

“He got beaten up by some bullies”, explains Tahomaru.

“I’m sorry. Yuki and his friends are terrible. Believe me, most people in our age wish they would just disappear”, replies Kahoku.

“Good to know they aren’t popular”, says Tahomaru.

“If you want to want to meet other people, I’ll introduce you to my friends. We are quite a diverse group, I’m sure the two of you would go well together with the others”, says Kohaku.

“Sounds good. But are you sure they’ll accept a one-eyed, one-legged guy and someone as quiet as my aniue?”, asks Tahomaru.

“Of course! I told you, we’re a diverse group. We already have three other amputees and one blind person in our group, there’s no reason for the others to not let you join our group”, answers Kohaku, “If you want, I will bring you to the them.”

“What do you think, Aniue?”, asks Tahomaru.

“Hm. Not know. You decide”, I say.

“Would you introduce us to your friends?”, asks my brother.

“Yes!” Kohaku sounds just as enthusiastic as Tahomaru. They are well matched.

Then Kohaku leads us through the village, telling us countless stories about himself and his group. Tahomaru is talking a lot, too. They get along just fine.

I remain quiet most of the time and only throw in a few words when I want to. I’m glad Kohaku isn’t pushy. He tries to integrate me into the conversation, but he doesn’t force me to anything. He is just nice and friendly. A good person.

When I don’t speak, I look around and watch my surroundings. The village is very busy and there are so many shops. At some point I stop to watch a crow eating bugs. It’s a very pretty bird. I turn around to tell Tahomaru I found a pretty crow, but I can’t find him or Kohaku.

I start searching for them, but I just can’t find them. I slowly start to panic. I don’t know what to do without my brother. And I can’t even ask other people if they have seen him. I don’t know how to describe people and I’m also afraid of talking to people without the moral support of my brother. Why is everything so complicated?

I panic. Today, everything that can go wrong, goes wrong. And I hate it. I hate it! I wander around aimlessly, trying to find Tahomaru.

I don’t know anybody, I don’t know this place, I don’t know where my brother is, I don’t know where Dororo is, I don’t know where my mamas are, I don’t know how to speak with people. I just don’t know!

My heart is pounding very fast and I’m breathing heavily. Why does this happen to me? Why? Just why? Why did they leave me alone? Why didn’t they wait for me? Do they not care about me? Is there anybody who cares for me?

I grab the talisman Tahomaru bought for me. He bought me a talisman that should bring me good luck. This means he care about me, right? And he bought me food. He is my brother. He cares about me, right? Right? So why didn’t he wait for me?

Why? Why? Maybe I should go back to the marketplace. He-mama and she-mama are there. They will help me, right? But how do I get there? This village has so many streets and alleyways, I have no idea how to get to the marketplace.

But I have to go there. I don’t know what else I could do. My mamas will help me. My mamas will help me. Will they? Will they? I grab the talisman even tighter.

What should I do? Just what? There are so many people! What if Mr. Bulky/Yuki finds me and beats me up again? Or his friends? My injuries still hurt, especially my head. I don’t want to meet them again. They are terrible. I hope, they don’t find me.

But I have to go to the marketplace. Just how do I get there? How? This village is like a maze and I don’t have anyone who could lead to the marketplace. So, what can, what should I do?

_“Follow me, Hyakkimaru!”_ , whispers a soft voice into my right ear.

I look around but there is no one. All I can see is a flash of blue to my right. And puddles on the ground. Puddles? There was no rain in the last days… Where do the puddles come from? I follow the puddles into an alleyway.

_“That’s the right way, Hyakkimaru. Keep following me. I will bring you to a safe place”_ , whispers the voice.

I look around again, only to see another flash of blue. I continue following the puddles until I can’t find more of them. I am now standing on an almost empty street.

_“This is a good place. No one will hurt you here.”_

I look around. This time there is no flash of blue. But a blue person. _Hoshimizu_.

He smiles at me, then hold a finger in front of his lips.

I know this gesture. It means, ‘be quiet, don’t say anything, don’t make a fuss.’

_“You are the only one who can see me”_ , says Hoshimizu, _“Humans rarely can.”_

‘Why you here?’, I mouth, ‘Why lead me here?’

_“The mean ones almost saw you. But here you are safe for now. And maybe you’ll find someone nice…”_ And with these words he vanishes. Just a puddle remains where he stood just seconds ago.

I look around. I don’t know this street. But I can’t sense any danger either. Maybe Hoshimizu brought me here because Tahomaru is somewhere near this place.

“Hello, there? Are you searching for something or someone?”

I turn around. A young person in my age stands there. They must’ve asked that question.

I nod.

“My name is Aomori Hikariryû”, says the stranger, “And who are you?”

“Hyakkimaru.”

“Do you search for a person?”

I do. “My Otôto”, I say.

He-mama told that Tahomaru and I are kyôdai, that I’m Tahomaru’s aniue and that he’s my otôto, the older brother is the aniue, the younger brother the otôto.

“How old is your otôto?”

“Year younger than I”, I say.

“So not a small child”, replies Hikariryû, “That’s good to know.”

“You help?”

“He’s just a year younger than you, so he will be just fine”, says Hikariryû, “Or is he retarded?” I shake my head.

“Then you don’t have to worry.”

It’s not Tahomaru I’m worried about. He doesn’t need any help with social interaction. I’m the one who needs help.

“Your name, what meaning?”, I ask.

Hikariryû laughs. Then he writes the characters into the dirt.

“First is light, but the second?”, I ask.

“It’s a mythical being”, says Hikariryû and starts to draw something, “It has a long, lean body with lots of scales, four feet that look like bird’s feet, a long mane like a lion, antlers like a deer, a huge mouth full of teeth, a long neck, a tail just as long and these strange things on its snout. People call it a dragon. They say it’s really powerful, it can fly without wings and can control the water. My name means ‘light dragon’, I think it’s a good name.”

I nod.

“Yours sounds powerful, too. Hundred demons.” “I know.”

“Are you new to this village?” “Yes and no.”

“What does that mean?” “Complicated.”

“Okay. I’m new to this place, too. My father is the lord of this domain and I was supposed to be his heir, but then _it_ happened, and he sent me to this place.”

Hikariryû really spits the word “it” and grabs his left sleeve. Just now, I realize that it’s empty. He is missing his left arm.

“Sorry”, I say.

“Don’t apologize. My brothers are responsible for this. Usually the first-born son is the heir of a lord, but my aniue is hot-headed, short-tempered and treats the people unjustly. That’s why my father chose me as his heir, me, the second-born”, explains Hikariryû, “My aniue didn’t take that well and hired an assassin to kill me. I was able to kill the assassin, but he managed it to cut my arm off.”

“Hurts?”

“Yes, it does. The wound is still fresh. The whole thing happened four night ago”, answers Hikariryû, “I don’t know why father sent me to this village. Is it to punish me because I was unable to win the fight without losing a limb? Is it to get rid of his now crippled son? Or did he send me to this place to recover?

But if he wanted me to recover, he would’ve sent me to relatives, or he would’ve booked me a room in an inn. But there are no relatives in this village nor did father book a room for me. I had to sleep outside the last two nights and this village doesn’t even have a single doctor.”

“Not true. Lives outside village”, I say.

“Really?”

“He raises me.”

“You mean, he raised you?” I nod.

“You speak like a child, but who am I to just?”

“You nice”, I say.

Hikariryû smiles, “I can’t remember the last time someone told me that I’m nice. And you seem pretty decent, too. You are weird, but I think, I like you.” Now, I am smiling, too.

“Do you know a place where we can eat?”, asks Hikariryû.

I nod. “You hungry, right? I not. But show you place”, I explain.

“Thank you.”

We wander around the streets for quite a while until I find the inn where I ate with Tahomaru.

“Will you join me, Hyaku-san?”, asks Hikariryû, “Is it okay, that I call you Hyaku-san? Or would you prefer Hyakki-san or Hyakkimaru-san, though the last one is pretty long, isn’t it? I just think, that ‘hundred demons’ is pretty cool name.”

“I join. Hyakki-san okay, Hyaku-san okay, Hyakkimaru-san okay.”

“Great. Do you want to eat a small onigiri, Hyaku-san?”

I nod. Hikariryû buys a bowl of ramen for himself and an onigiri for me. I take my onigiri and follow Hikariryû to a table.

“It’s really annoying to have only one arm”, says Hikariryû.

“Otôto misses eye and leg”, I reply.

“That’s pretty shitty, too”, says Hikariryû, “At least I can walk around.”

We both eat our food, then I bring back Hikariryû’s bowl and we leave the inn.

“They have good food”, says Hikariryû. I nod.

“Can you bring me to the doctor?”, asks Hikariryû, “He should take a look at my arm. I hope, it’s not infected, but it hurts like hell.”

“Okay, I bring you there. We meet at market”, I say. And it is almost sunset by now.

Hikariryû and I walk together until we reach the marketplace. I have no problems finding my family. Hikariryû follows me.

“Ah! There you are, Hyakkimaru”, says he-mama, the others are also happy to see me.

“Who is that person following you?”, asks Tahomaru.

“Hikariryû needs help”, I say, “Help from mama.”

He-mama sighs, “I see. Then he can join us.”

“Really?”

“Of course, I won’t reject a patient.”

I look at Hikariryû, who takes that as a signal to come closer.

“Thank you, sensei. I owe you something”, says Hikariryû and bows down to he-mama.

On our way home, Tahomaru tells everyone about Kohaku and his friends. Tahomaru sounds very happy as he tells us that they allowed him to join their group. Dororo also tells us about her new friends, she sounds very proud.

“What about you, Aniki?”, asks Dororo.

“I, uh… I meet Hikariryû. Hikariryû is nice”, I say. The person in question laughs.

Back at our house, Hikariryû tells he-mama where he comes from and what happened to his arm.

Then he rolls up his sleeve, revealing the stump of his arm which is covered in bloody bandages. The arm had been cut above the elbow. He-mama removes the bandages and examines the wound.

“Looks good. No infection”, he says, before he applies some healing ointment to the wound and dresses the arm again.

“You can stay here, until it’s healed. Then you can get a prosthetic arm, if you want”, says he-mama.

“Wait, what?”

He-mama stands up and goes to the shelf with all the boxes. He opens one and pulls out a prosthetic arm.

“Something like this. It needs some practice, but you should be able to move it like your healthy arm”, explains he-mama.

“Really? What’s amazing!” Hikariryû sounds delighted.

“Yes, but your wound needs to heal first.”

“That’s okay. I can wait.”

I’m glad Hikariryû can stay here for the next weeks. It means, that I don’t have to search for him in the village every day.

When we go to bad, I realize that maybe I can make friends with Hikariryû. He accepts me the way I am, and he is nice. It would great if we could become friends.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hyakkimaru asks at the beginning of the chapter if he's a boy or a girl. He doesn't know much about gender nor does he care about it at this point. He gained back his sight just a few weeks ago and there had been no way for him to see a difference between men and women with his soul vision. They were all white, roughly human shaped flames.
> 
> You may argue that he had to know he's a boy because Jukai repeatedly praises him as "good boy", but (in this fic) Hyakkimaru never paid attention to that part of the sentence as he focuses mor on the "You are such good..."-part. He never paid attention when Jukai calles him a boy, because he was more focused on the rest of the sentence as it is more important for him.
> 
> Here are Japanese words for siblings:  
> otôto means younger brother  
> aniue means older brother  
> kyôdai means siblings (brothers/siblings, depending on what characters are used)  
> imôto means younger sister  
> aneue means older sister  
> And Aomori means blue/green forest
> 
> (Edit (Friday, the 18th of September, 2020): I'm making progress with the fourth chapter!)
> 
> Constructive criticism is always welcome!


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